Print

Print


Several years ago I ran across this ditty which I like to read from time to
time. I wish to share this with you, especially in regards to recent
frustrating postings. I'm sorry I lost the name of the author. BTW, I'm off
to get some ice cream.

Jim Ryan
57/7

"THE TRIP"

Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision.  We see ourselves on a
long trip that spans the continent.  We are traveling by train.  Out of the
windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children
waving at a crossing, or cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke
pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands
and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village
halls.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination.  On a certain day at a
certain hour we will pull into the station.  Bands will be playing and flags
waving.  Once we get there so many wonderful dreams will come true and the
pieces of our lives will fit together like a completed jigsaw puzzle.  How
restlessly we pace the aisles, damming the minutes of loitering--waiting,
waiting, waiting for the station.

"When we reach the station, that will be it!"  "When I put the last kid
through college."  "When I have paid off the mortgage!"  "When I get a
promotion."  "When I reach the age of retirement, I shall live happily ever
after!"

Sooner or later we must realize there is no station, no once place to arrive
at once and for all.  The try joy of life is the trip.  The station is only a
dream.  It constantly outdistances us.

"Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm
118:24:  "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be
lad in it."  It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad.  It is the
regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow.  Regret and fear are twin
thieves who rob us of today.

So, stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles.  Instead, climb more
mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch
 more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.  Life must be lived as we go along.  The
station will come soon enough.