A Better Offer

Once during a concert, Arlo Guthrie was talking and suddenly stopped and said, "I know I'm supposed to be singing but you can't always do what you're supposed to do."

The crowd applauded and he continued telling his story.

And it's true, you can't always do what you are supposed to do.

Sometimes in life you have to do something else which is normally frightening and scary. It's like jumping off of a cliff. You hope you land in a better place though there is always the possibility of crashing and burning. Still it is something that you know with everything inside of you that you have to do it.

Your friends will both encourage and discourage you as you contemplate making a change. Everybody hates change and does their best to avoid it. But in the end only you decide because you know you have to do what you have to do. You just pray that there are no regrets.

And that is how we live our lives.

Lovers leave one another. Marriages begin and they end. Jobs are found and they are lost. A new born baby is brought into a home as a teenager leaves another one. Careers are discovered and they are destroyed. Commitments are made and they are broken. These things happen every day.

And in the end, it matters most when these things are happening to us individually. I suppose it is best when we are the initiators of doing something else because we know where we are trying to get to. But our actions effect someone else and they are left to cope with change that they did not ask for but have it anyway.

The other day my son Jeremy was talking about taking the time to appreciate the good things that come your way as they are happening. Because they do not last. "We're gonna love it while it last," goes the song.

So we spend our lives looking for those moments. Because there is no day but today. And really no moment but this one to really live. Too many spend too much of their time just getting by or existing in the situation they find themselves in. That isn't living. So you always have to be on your toes to discover the opportunities that make you come alive.

So yesterday I had promised Shirely Sessions that Keller Deal and I would attend the United Way Volunteer Recognition ceremony. I love Shirely and would do pretty much anything that she asks, but yesterday I got a better offer. So Keller and Sarah covered for me and I didn't do what I was supposed to do.

I did something better.