At end of the year
At end of this last decade
where are my footprints?

Paging through a book on Mount Everest, I came across these two photos taken by Edmund Hillary.

The 1st photo was of the summit ridge, the path to the top of Mount Everest.

Hillary was within 300 feet of the top.

When Hillary took the photo, no one in recorded history had walked there before.

The 2nd photo is the same shot but a couple of hours later.

Pretty much the same view, but for one thing.

Footprints.

Fifty years ago footprints were also left on the Moon.

From the last year, from the last decade, where are my footprints?

My thoughts immediately go where, but to the beach.

10 years ago, I had never heard of Tybee.

Yesterday, when Leslie and I had a day to ourselves, I asked her, “Why AREN’T we going to Tybee?”

Left lots of footprints.

All them, washed away in seconds.

I am okay with that.

bleak thoughts end the year
better, worse does not promise
fifty-fifty split

I was paging through a history of Mount Everest and came across this picture taken by Edmund Hillary from the summit of the mountain.

The picture looks back at the path he and Tengzin Norgay had just walked to reach the top of Mount Everest.

The caption on the photograph reads, “Looking back from the South Summit at the knife edged Summit Ridge. The footmarks of Tengzin Norgay and Edmund Hillary can be clearly seen in the snow, tracing their progress back from the Summit. On one side of the ridge was an 8,000 foot drop; on the other side, one of over 10,000 feet.“

The difference between better or worse in this scene is quite dramatic.

When offered a better or worse proposition, it would seem that the the proposition’s promise is at least a 50 / 50 split of better or worse.

I know it doesn’t work out that way.

I do not mind that it doesn’t work out that way.

I am not shocked that the bad times seem to outweigh the good times.

But the knife edge between the two.

The depth of the plummet off of either side.

The unexpected change, slip and deep drop from one to the other.

God arranges odd little moments for me throughout my life.

I wake up today feeling this way and the Bible verse of the day email reads, ” Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. “

That is 100% on the better side.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

John 14:1-3 NIV

in the way of truth
unworthy authority
hinders every one

Adapted from, “There are in fact four very significant stumbling blocks in the way of grasping the truth, which hinder every man however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to wisdom, namely, the example of weak and unworthy authority, longstanding custom, the feeling of the ignorant crowd, and the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge.”

Which is attributed to the English theologian, philosopher and Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon, who lived over 700 years ago.

700 years ago?

700 years ago!

That the example of weak and unworthy authority was an issue 700 years ago is both worthy of remark and at the same time, not unexpected, especially if you have read the Old Testament and the books of Kings.

Clearly, plus ça change, plus c’est la même.

But please notice that we play a role in this as well.

” the hiding of our own ignorance while making a display of our apparent knowledge .”

This is the scary part for me.

So many friends and family say they just do not know what to think any more.

Who can you trust?

Who can you believe?

I respect those folks who come forward and admit, they don’t know.

For them, off the top of head, I can come up with a few points from the Bible.

By their fruits you will know them.

God is NOT MOCKED.

For my friends who want to hide ignorance, I would say, work out your salvation with fear and trembling.

To close, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28 NIV

need for distraction
start a jigsaw puzzle with
no time to finish

15 years ago the devil brought iPhones into the world.

Prior to that if I was in my car and someone needed to reach out to me they had one option.

Call either my home or my job and leave a message.

Thinking back, I can come up few things that really, and I mean really, that would have been beneficial had anyone been able to get a hold of me.

Today I take that stupid iPhone with me everywhere.

I am more connected.

I am more in touch.

I am at peace with the thought that I am ‘on the grid.’

OH REALLY?

Or do I have anxiety that I might miss some message.

Do I have more anxiety that I might not be in touch?

Does my anxiety go up when I lose WiFi and I have to measure my connectivity by the bars across the top of my screen.

Viscous, viscous cycle.

A short cut to insanity.

I am here to tell you a secret.

It is okay to DO NOTHING.

It might be better to DO NOTHING.

“… get used to doing activities that have no end goal and don’t offer instant gratification.” said Mr. Guy Burgs as quoted in ‘No tricks. No mantras. I just want to learn how to do nothing’: my quest to stay still by Sam Delaney in The Guardian.

Delaney writes, ‘I get in touch with Timothy D Wilson, a professor of psychology and one of the authors of the self-electrocution study.

He and his team published recent research suggesting that regular “thought breaks” in the day can reduce stress and might help make you more productive.

“Meditation often asks you to clear your mind of thoughts, but I prefer to fill my mind with the right kind,” says Wilson.

“You need to learn to fill your mind with pleasurable and fulfilling thoughts. It is another tool in the mental tool box.”’

I like this.

I really like this.

I am going to try this.

I am going to try this today.

Do something not based on time available or connectivity.

Maybe start a jigsaw puzzle I know I will have to pick up before its even started.

Maybe nothing at all.

I think of my hero, Peter Gibbons in the dystopian-reality, if that is possible, movie, Office Space.

Peter plays hooky from work and refuses to answer his phone.

Asked later what he did, Peter responds, ” I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.”