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October
5 |
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Today's
Quotation:
When people are on the point of
drowning, all they care for is their lives. But as soon as they get ashore, they ask, "Where
is my umbrella?" Wisdom, in life, consists in not asking for the umbrella.
John Wu
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Today's
Meditation:
How
many times have we seen in films-- and even real life--
those
people who barely escape death and who immediately become
distraught because they've lost their wallets or some jewels
or some paperwork that they "needed"? In
films, it makes for a wonderful illustration of a character
who simply hasn't set his or her priorities realistically or
who can't appreciate the truest reality of the moment:
he or she is lucky to be alive. Somehow, though, the
person places more importance on some sort of material
object than on life.
True
wisdom consists of seeing life exactly as it is-- it is much
more important than any of the materialism or even the
relationships of our lives. After all, if we weren't
alive, we wouldn't have any of it, would we? If I die
today, not a single thing that I have or a single person
that I know would be able to change that fact.
Therefore, the highest priority of my life should be to
appreciate and be thankful for the life that I have that I'm
able to lead.
If
I'm alive, what I lose doesn't matter, for I can gain it
again. Being alive means being able to live and learn
and grow, and if we're truly wise, we seek to strengthen and
improve our lives, our hearts, our souls, our spirits.
If we're not wise, we seek to obtain more and more things in
our search for "happiness," and we seek to hold on
to them at all costs out of fear of losing them.
Many
people who face drowning but who survive are wise, and they
don't ask for whatever they might have lost when they reach
safety. We can learn from them and their wisdom and
realize that the next time we pass through a difficult or
dangerous time, at least we're alive. And isn't that
what matters? For only when we're alive can we
continue to grow and learn.
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Questions to ponder:
1. Why might some people feel the
need to find out what
happened to a possession after almost drowning?
2. How can we learn to let go of
such a need?
3. Who can teach us to have the kind
of wisdom that John Wu writes of? |
For further thought:
No doubt we would all agree with the sentiment:
“There’s more to life than things.”
Yet much of our lives seem to be spent in the acquisition,
maintenance, and disposal of material goods.
Certainly we cannot enjoy the basics of food, shelter, and
clothing without a concern for things.
The truly important things of life, however, are those which
cannot be encountered by the physical senses, purchased with money, or
placed on a shelf. When
we take a look at what we value most in life, we generally find
family, friends, health, peace, contentment, laughter, helping others,
and communion with God [whatever we conceive God to be] foremost on our list of priorities.
unattributed
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