Rapture Thoughts

"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This morning my wife and I decided to have breakfast at our local Waffle House. A chain of diners mostly through out the southeast that allows for varied experiences. So this morning was not too different.

As it was quite early, there were few people eating so the conversation was easy to hear. And as any small diner goes, we were drawn into this conversation. I'm not sure if it was tired night shift workers or not enough morning coffee, but the rapture was the topic.

There was news of the rapture occurring tomorrow (May 21, 2011) fresh on the minds of Waffle House patrons. I will state up front that I believe rapture is a personal experience of faith. That our own death is our rapture and if your faith is such, you will do good as much as possible in life.

With that out of the way, even if you believe in the fire and brimstone version of rapture, I am not here to mock or convince you otherwise. And if you have no belief in any of that, I am not here to persuade you of it.

What was interesting is that the Waffle House folks were concerned about what to do and how to prepare. I thought to myself, maybe just start now by being a good person. I'm not suggesting these people are not good and decent. But maybe all of us should just try to live a good life everyday.

Our physical lives are not infinite and our time can disappear in an instant. So why not try to live a good and great life all of the time. Being a good person to your family, your friends, your neighbors and even strangers leaves a great legacy for others to follow.

The rapture may happen tomorrow and I may get hit by a bus, but either way I'll try to do good until it happens. I'll keep going to the Waffle House. Heck, I'll just keep going on and on until I no longer can.

Your Attitude Today

"If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want." -Oscar Wilde

Definition of Attitude by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1: arrangement of the parts of a body or figure; posture
2: position assumed for specific purpose (threatening attitude)
3: ballet position similar to the arabesque in which the raised leg is bent at the knee
4: a:mental position with regard to a fact or state (a helpful attitude) b:feeling or emotion toward a fact or state
5: the position of an aircraft or spacecraft determined by the relationship between its axes and a reference datum (as the horizon or a particular star)
6: an organismic state of readiness to respond in a characteristic way to a stimulus (as an object, concept, or situation)
7: a:negative or hostile state of mind b:cool, cocky, defiant, or arrogant manner

I guess I find the definition non-surprising. Neither of the "state of mind" definitions (4 and 7) are positive. While definition four could be considered a neutral stand, item seven supposes attitude to be a negative one.

We as humans tend to always go to the negative as a first response. You hear people say, "oh, thats too hard", "that will never work", or "I'm not smart enough." And why do we go to the negative first? Because it is an easy place to go, it is the quick and easy learned choice. But being negative actually consumes quite a bit of our physical energy.

Is that scientific? Maybe, but mostly its my experience in observing people these many years. Additionally, several articles including one in Psychology Today says, "For the same reasons negative people zap your energy, negative emotions, such as anger, resentment, regret, and jealousy, zap it as well. Negative emotions make our minds and bodies tense. In addition, when we experience these kinds of emotions, we have to exert a lot of energy to contain them, which can be exhausting."

So having a positive attitude is really easier then being negative. It simply comes down to retraining ourselves to be more positive. Once you get into the 'groove' of being more positive, it gets easier and easier.

And like I do once or twice a year, read the following titled ATTITUDE by Charles Swindoll. Its a good reminder of how you can view your own attitude.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes"

Time Passing

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." -C. S. Lewis

Wednesday comes like a wishful gift to a work week for so many. It is likened as "hump day", in which we've climbed a hill that represents the work week. Many feel that if they can just make it to this day, the rest of the work week will be easy. But experience tells us that life doesn't play by our rules.

We can plan to have a nice slide down the hill towards Friday, but circumstance can alter the topography. It could very well be a Sisyphus kind of week in which we are constantly pushing the boulder up the hill. Only to find that the weekend is short and the boulder is once again ready for us.

The good thing in all of this is that time is truly a constant. The minutes, hours, and days come at us in the same constant fashion. We can't wish it to slow down nor can we jump past the present. It is an equalizer of sorts amongst all of us. We each must live the minutes, hours, and days in order to reach a future point in time.

So before we get to Friday at 5:00 PM, all of Wednesday, Thursday and the waning hours of Friday must be experienced. So whatever life and circumstance is going to throw at us, try to enjoy each minute of it. The good, the bad, the ugly are all part of the life experience.

***Yes, that was a link to one of my favorite movies.

Time will pass on its own. It is up to us to make the most of it and not wish it away. How we live during those moments is what matters. I say choose to enjoy those moments and in the collective end, our time here will have been more enjoyable than not.

Finish Line

"Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another." -John Dewey

I have heard it said many times that starting a journey towards a goal is the easy part...finishing it is the hard part. Its a true and sometimes painful lesson for many of us to learn in life.

We set forth at the beginning of a new year with plans for many things. But by the second or third month, life and our own selves get in the way. We lose interest, become interested in other "bright and shiny" things or simply give up. It is a common theme for many of us and finishing really is the hard part.

I wrote recently that my son graduated from the University of Georgia, picking up his Bachelor of Science in Geology, Summa Cum Laude. Now it is graduate school (should he decide) ahead of him. I am sure it was a long and hard road to achieve this moment. Yet he pushed and kept his mind on the goal and beyond.

It is that piece beyond the goal, that which lay beyond the finish line that keeps us motivated. One goal begets another goal, another destination, or another level of achievement. But none of it happens if you don't keep moving forward.

Now I fully understand that we can start a journey and then realize the path might be wrong. The goal we set may have been the wrong direction. The course we take might get altered. We may not complete the first goal in mind, but the path leads you to the next goal and the next and the next.

The best thing you can do is to set a goal and then get up and do something about it. Try to finish the journey to your goal. If you get side-tracked from it, adjust; don't just stop. Don't click on the CANCEL button. Don't click on the BACK button. Go forward and achieve a great life.