....HAS NOT COME WITH AGE!
"OLD PEOPLE ARE OFTEN IMPATIENT, BUT FOR WHAT?"
Jonathan Carroll, American Author
Many people try to live in the past. Not me. I try to live in the future. I cross bridges before I even get in my car. I don't just count my chickens before they hatch, I even start eating them. I burn my candle at both ends and down the middle. I not only accept wooden nickles, I collect them. I watch for the pot to boil even before I turn on the stove. I grease the wheel before it has a chance to squeak.
I don't think I am "impatient" as much as "driven." I am tenacious when it comes to waiting for a dream to be realized. I don't let go of dreams easily. These days I feel the pressure of getting on with things! I hate pussyfooting around more than ever! In that sense, I guess I am impatient. I find myself itching to "get on with it" more than ever because I hear a big old clock ticking in the background. If I were a bishop, my coat of arms would have the Larry The Cable Guy motto - "Git Er Done!"
Why? I think it is because I am 72, realizing that I will be 80 in less than 8 years and 90 in less than 18 years and maybe even dead before that! I think I might have answered my own "why" question in a column in The Record recently.
"Could it be that "the end" is like a pack of barking dogs over the horizon that I must try to outrun?"
God has always placed me in situations where I can learn what I need to know going forward. It has been a pattern in my life. For instance, when I had a problem relating to authority figures in my late thirties, I was called out of my little country parish where I lived alone, to live with Archbishop Kelly. I never imagined that I would live that close to the throne! What happened was that even that myth was shattered. Bishops are just ordinary people in special robes with extraordinary responsibility. That experience taught me to move from fear to empathy.
These days, I am working in the islands of the Caribbean. Down there, everything seems to move much more slowly - sometimes excruciatingly slow for my taste. It is an adjustment that I find extremely difficult at times. It occurred to me the other day, that God has placed me in this situation to teach me patience in preparation for the years ahead when I will not be able to "git er done" so easily and so quickly. I believe that I am being prepared to let go of the burning need to accomplish something and to be able to relax and rest on my laurels.
I may get there someday soon, but for now I am still in the "bargaining stage," holding out for a few more years of obsessive compulsive living, even while I am in training to be more patient. I am not rushing to get it over with, but I do want to do as much as I can before it's all over with!
"OLD PEOPLE ARE OFTEN IMPATIENT, BUT FOR WHAT?"
Jonathan Carroll, American Author
Many people try to live in the past. Not me. I try to live in the future. I cross bridges before I even get in my car. I don't just count my chickens before they hatch, I even start eating them. I burn my candle at both ends and down the middle. I not only accept wooden nickles, I collect them. I watch for the pot to boil even before I turn on the stove. I grease the wheel before it has a chance to squeak.
I don't think I am "impatient" as much as "driven." I am tenacious when it comes to waiting for a dream to be realized. I don't let go of dreams easily. These days I feel the pressure of getting on with things! I hate pussyfooting around more than ever! In that sense, I guess I am impatient. I find myself itching to "get on with it" more than ever because I hear a big old clock ticking in the background. If I were a bishop, my coat of arms would have the Larry The Cable Guy motto - "Git Er Done!"
Why? I think it is because I am 72, realizing that I will be 80 in less than 8 years and 90 in less than 18 years and maybe even dead before that! I think I might have answered my own "why" question in a column in The Record recently.
"Could it be that "the end" is like a pack of barking dogs over the horizon that I must try to outrun?"
Rev. Ronald Knott
An Encouraging Word
THE RECORD
July 22, 2016
God has always placed me in situations where I can learn what I need to know going forward. It has been a pattern in my life. For instance, when I had a problem relating to authority figures in my late thirties, I was called out of my little country parish where I lived alone, to live with Archbishop Kelly. I never imagined that I would live that close to the throne! What happened was that even that myth was shattered. Bishops are just ordinary people in special robes with extraordinary responsibility. That experience taught me to move from fear to empathy.
These days, I am working in the islands of the Caribbean. Down there, everything seems to move much more slowly - sometimes excruciatingly slow for my taste. It is an adjustment that I find extremely difficult at times. It occurred to me the other day, that God has placed me in this situation to teach me patience in preparation for the years ahead when I will not be able to "git er done" so easily and so quickly. I believe that I am being prepared to let go of the burning need to accomplish something and to be able to relax and rest on my laurels.
I may get there someday soon, but for now I am still in the "bargaining stage," holding out for a few more years of obsessive compulsive living, even while I am in training to be more patient. I am not rushing to get it over with, but I do want to do as much as I can before it's all over with!
No comments:
Post a Comment