Life in the Bubble

As I was passing the Tiniest Hair over the side of his playpen today, I thought to myself I wish life was like living in the pen for a while.  How easy it would be to spend our time surrounded by four padded sides, amongst toys of our liking, with hands of a parent always close.  My fears would be eased.  My worries would be met.  My choices would be small.

But it isn't like that, is it?  We have choices that are broad.  We have fears that are great.  We have worries that are unceasing.  But, isn't that what living is all about?  If we aren't feeling all of these pressures, we aren't really living at all.  It is in this middle area, above the roots and below the clouds, that we dwell among all of the messiness of life. 

Eve found this out too quickly in the Garden.  She chose the darkness, when she was given the option of free will.  All of us have chosen the darkness at one time or another.  If we had never left the playpen, there would not have been the darkness near us to choose.  The bubble could not have been penetrated. 

Again, it isn't like that, is it?  We have the choices all around us.  That's where the character comes into play.  That's where the worries take root.  That's where our fears grow deep.  The choices lie along our journey.  The choices are ours to make.  

 

"To live is to choose.

But to choose well,

you must know who you are

and what you stand for,

where you want to go and

why you want to get there." — Kofi Annan

We can choose the darkness or the path that is made of the light.  We can choose to come out of the darkness and live for the light.  The light can be ours to take each morning, never to look back into the darkness.  For the darkness can be nothing but a memory ~ A wayward dream that made us who we are, but not a definition of our whole person.

  

The lyrics below hold a chorus that seems to strike me at my core...

"Take this sinking boat and point it home
We've still got time
Raise your hopeful voice you have a choice
You've made it now"

That's just it.  We've still got time to take this sinking boat and point it home.  It only takes a moment to choose.  It can be made here in the middle of our life.  Or, I suppose, it can be made in the fleeting moments before our death.  We can turn our lives toward a beacon of light that will set us in the right.  Once this choice has been made, we know what we stand for, and we just need to head where we want to go and never forget why we want to go there. 

{Falling Slowly  artist: Glen Hansard}