It's How (Not If) We Live That CountsWritten by Thom Rutledge
I have this little fantasy about dying one day, going to heaven, or wherever God holds post-earth-life Q& A sessions, and finally learning what it is all about. After years to consider and hone one question I will ask God if I am granted such an opportunity when my Thom Rutledge life has run its course, I have decided upon that precise wording: “What was that all about?” That is what I will ask God if given chance, and that is what I ask God in my little fantasy. As I step up in line, ready to ask my question, I am of course betting that answer will be something to do with “…and greatest of these is love,” (The Apostle Paul, 1Corinthians, Ch 13, verse 13) or “in end, love you take is equal to love you make.” (The Beatle Paul, Abbey Road, Final Track) When I reach front of line and ask my finely tuned question, God replies concisely, as God tends to do both in my imagination and in real life. Here is conversation: (Don’t blink; it goes by really fast.) Me: What was that all about? God: Cars and money. Me:Crap! This little scene serves two purposes for me. First, to entertain my very-easy-to-entertain self, and second, to represent my fear of missing point. The fear of missing point is a very legitimate fear. In fact, it may be only legitimate fear. In continuing wake (read: tidal wave)
| | Invest in Positive PossibilitiesWritten by Thom Rutledge
A young woman who just bought a lottery ticket for a chance to win a multi-million dollar jackpot was recently interviewed on 6 o’clock news. She was genuinely enthusiastic about possibility of winning jackpot. In fact she considered winning such a realistic possibility that she expressed her fears related to potential big-time success. “I worry that I will not know how to handle that much money,” she told interviewer, seeming as genuine in her fear as she was in her enthusiasm. Another young woman sits in my office talking about her search for a job. She has arranged several interviews, and has already made a good impression with two potential employers, but she is not very optimistic about her chances of landing a job. What’s wrong with these pictures? The hopeful young woman with lottery ticket seems to believe in her one in some tens of millions chances of becoming so rich it scares her, while woman in my office who will certainly land a job, and probably a very good one, tends to expect failure. How many of us can identify with this? We invest our energy in expecting long shots to come through, and are very stingy with our expectations when it comes to realistic day-to-day possibilities. And we do this with both positive and negative expectation. Consider how much energy we waste in our lives worrying about things that never even come close to happening. If you could recoup just half of energy you have leaked by way of needless worry, how much extra energy would you have? I don’t know about you, but I have leaked enough energy in my lifetime to light up Times Square for a decade.
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