Arriving.

It's funny how life is a series of moments.  I often have to remind myself of that.

Society often looks at the value of our lives in terms of "Having Arrived".  And, because it's somewhat common to believe what we're told, we also have valued our lives only in the times were we have "arrived".

The more I live (verb: to burn or glow, having resilence or bounce, being in play, moving or imparting motion, powered), the more I see my life as a series of arriving moments more than one large moment of "having arrived".  Of course, there are some events that are more visibly arriving than others.  There are graduations, job promotions, weddings, babies being born, and on and on and on.  Those are blissful, and they definitely take us to new levels---and they are great to celebrate.  But they are merely stepping stones in the continuous arriving of life.

Arriving also takes place in those hard days.  The down in the dump kind of days, the nothing goes right kind of days, the "blah" days, and the repetitive days that seem somewhat boring.  Those days are also building blocks, essential parts of our arriving.

I think it's easy to believe that once I get to this place or to that place in life, I will have made it.  Life will be fine, work out, be--dare I say--easy.  But the more and more I allow my heart the satisfaction of living in the process, the more and more I enjoy the serenity of my daily arriving.

It may come in the form of presence when listening to my husband's day, of laughing when Ella spills expensive organic puffs all over the floor at a restaurant, of breathing deep when I got negative test results back, or of forgiving and letting go when that thing that tried to kill me is poking its ugly head.

It's the process of peace.

When I relax and remind myself of the process, life is so much more enjoyable.  If we're not constantly in search of the next thing to "make us ok", we can relish in the daily fact that we really are "ok".  We are acceptable. Really. Who is there to impress?  We are all walking around this place in our Earthsuits-- trying to figure out what the heck is going on.

Let's just be honest.

What we do know, though, is that we want our lives to matter.  We don't want to leave this place without leaving our mark and experiencing all there was for us to experience.  We want to feel love and be validated in our identity.  We want to live, really live.

And so, we do.  In those everyday moments.  We stop, we relish, we breathe.  When it's hard, when it's great, when it's really hard, and when it's really great.

And just when we get to the point of that uphill climb, when we look up and say to God "You said you wouldn't give me anything I can't handle."  It comes.  Breakthrough.  A breath of fresh air.  The joy of the third part of the Trinity.

And, we laugh.  We dance.  Our eyes water.

And we are refreshed.

Feeling the love.  The acceptance.  And the overcoming.

Oh yea.


(corresponding song: Hey, Soul Sister by Train)