photo ©2009 Reid Bacon, Flickr
Looking ahead to a new year and asking that timeless question once again.
At the end of one year, on the cusp of the next, I find myself in the middle of some major life transitions — getting divorced, becoming tri-(quad-?)-vocational, etc. — and it’s just a time for introspection in general, right? Looking back, looking forward, reflecting on all that’s been, wondering about what the future holds.
My friend Rachelle Mee-Chapman likes to quote the Mary Oliver poem “The summer day,” which ends by asking — and this is a fantastic question to reflect on regularly, but especially at this time of the changing year:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
I’ve been contemplating a similar question lately. It’s the same notion just set to slightly different words. They come from the title track to Dan Wilson’s first solo album Free Life (2007):
And in the air the questions hang
Will we get to do something?
Who we gonna end up being?
How we gonna end up feeling?
What you gonna spend your free life on?
Thanks to Kimberly Roth for reminding me of this beautiful song.
So what will I spend my life on in 2013 (G-d willing)?
The way of Jesus.
My kids.
Family.
Friends.
Justice/Love.
Work that matters.
Writing.
Beauty.
What are you going to spend your one wild, precious, free life on?
About Steve Knight
hmm…
practicing patience. (dangerous, I know – but it’s served me well thus far.)
quieting & listening.
savoring & delighting.
little moments, simple pleasures.
Basically taking each day on it’s own – not getting too far ahead of myself. Not so wild, I suppose – but precious & free nonetheless. I should really come up with something wild…
Steve,
Good question. I’d go with Sam Keen on this one:
“The radical vision of the future rests on the belief that the logic that determines either our survival or our destruction is simple:
1. The new human vocation is to heal the earth.
2. We can only heal what we love.
3. We can only love what we know.
4. We can only know what we touch.”
This New Year I resolve to do everything I can to heal the earth. I will touch it with my feet and hands, get to know it better, and love it more fully. And since we are all part of the earth, not separate at all, I resolve to heal myself and others—to love more deeply, know more truthfully, and touch more kindly.
So far I’ve spent it on running like hell and hiding.
Stop running. Stop hiding. Come out in the open. Be set free.
Steve,
Sounds like you are in rough seas. May you find peace, joy, and love this year.
Blessings,
Thanks, Brian!
About the time this song came out. I had miserably failed as a father and a husband due to the burdensome yolk of heterosexuality. I lifted it from around my neck and hung it on the cross. Free Life was one of my theme songs.
Another song that carried me through my divorce was from Jars of Clay’s Good Monsters album titled Work > http://youtu.be/lL0041GDsqE < this video literally represents the transition that I continue to go through from "small town Texas, Southern Baptist born and raised" to comfortable in my own skin without all the hate, loathing and despair. Talk about being "Born Again".
Both songs will continue to carry me through at some point this year I'm sure.
FYI : I thoroughly enjoyed both albums.