Saturday, October 26, 2013

Love the Chill

Good morning on this very cool still dark morning with a busy day in front of me.  This has  been a pretty good week and many things are running through my brain this morning.  One thing that still amazes me is about dreams.  I have always dreamed when I sleep but the amazing thing for me is that now being retired from Goodyear over ten years, ninety plus percent of my dreams are still Goodyear-central.  I have pondered the why and the what of that but, of course, there is no definitive answer but it makes me realize that what is truly foremost in your life, your drives, your aims, burns into the hard drive of the mind that apparently is indelible over time.  There are some real lessons to this fact I am seeing each night for the most part in my own life and mind.
 
So I guess the question that begs to be asked is; what is central in your life?  A friend once told me if you want to know what is important to a person, look in the trunk of their car.  That sounds a bit weird but go check in the truck of you car and see if it mirrors what is important to you. I know, right now, in the back of my car is a music stand, three books of song lyrics and probably ten CDs. Hum, what does that say?  So I challenge you to visit your trunk this morning for some inventorying and then step back to do a deep assessment of what is important in your life.
 
I think much about my nearly four decades of global work with Goodyear; a Company I dearly loved from the first day at the Gadsden, AL plant in 1967 to my last day in 2003. I can count on only one hand the number of days and nights I longed to not be there so I realize I did love what I do.  But then, what is important to us is what we love to do, isn't it?
 
It is my belief that it is good to truly love what you do especially if what you are doing is utilizing the gifts God has provided you.  People that know me in the last decade know I love to sing. I realize in retrospect that for far too many years I loved to sing for the joy of singing and ego feeding.  I further, now, realize that using God's gift for God's glory will always manifest itself is a much richer and deeper sense of worth and value than simply feeding one's ego.  I sang at another funeral Thursday morning and was unbelievably honored to be ask to be part of a home going celebration. Having done that now many times, it is still such a blessing to see how the song is soothing and lifting spirits that are hurting, pained and worried about what happens now. I get to be part of something good and that makes it all more good; a synergy I guess you could call it.
 
There is so much in our world today that makes you, at times, want to throw up your hands in disgust and just ignore it. Deaths on the news of children, young teachers, mass shootings, suicides are horrific but we are becoming, I fear, deadened to the real awfulness of such acts for they are coming more frequently it seems.  We are in a fallen world and have been for centuries so why should we think it gets better before the return of Christ, right?  I realize more and more that some of you reading that will say I am just an old relic of an era now gone, Bible-thumper, etc but age means nothing to the reality of God's Word for that Word is immutable.
 
I want, so badly, for my dream menu to be changed away from my Goodyear world to a new place where I can awake having enjoyed a memory of seeing a person's life changed or a remaining spouse or child flourish from the values borne from the love of the person now gone.  That is what I want to be dreaming about and not long days and nights in faraway places, jet lag and politics of the work. 
 
So on this still dark, cold morning, I wish you the best in the week ahead as Christmas churns toward us and all the craziness of that wonderful, precious with family and friends.  We are working diligently on our Christmas cantata at church, even this morning for two hours, and cannot wait to be part of the blessing of singing this wonderful piece for I learned it now two years ago. And On Earth, Peace, is a beautiful selection of songs beautifully arranged into the story of the birth of the Christ child.  Maybe I will start to dream about that!
 
Be blessed this weekend and thank you for taking the time to be part of my life through my words. By the way, each of you are a blessing to me so thank you!

No comments:

Post a Comment