New beginnings are always upon us, not just on January the 1st. Even as new beginnings take hold of our lives, endings are wrapping up all we once knew in one moment of collision and transformation. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. Do we have any greeting for those of us awake in those hours between dusk and dawn? Is it any wonder that as I let the my mind wander forward or backward, my life is still there wherever I left it? If I continued along with my life one experience followed by another, I'd be more understanding of the change that is always happening around me. Try as I may to keep up, I may as well live with what I can do with what is here. Just as light and shadow dance through the trees swaying in the wind, I inhale to take in what is fully present, the full reality of here and now. Its power comes from the interconnection of the elements of life's lyric echoed in a chorus of birdsong and commute. Repeat. This day is like yesterday, but it is today, creating its own verse in the midst of the metered pattern of life and death.
The path of life ahead is fraught with mystery. We may try to understand what will happen entirely with science, religion, philosophy, or an interpretation of history that is like today. Taking from these to form some of our picture of today, the only sign of what we do tomorrow is what we do today. Life doesn't take place overnight; living does. Living while taking in the dynamic force of movement comforting us with the constant charge that flows freely as life again takes shape from what has been.
And so as I stood by the bedside of a dying man, massaging his shoulders, holding his hand, I looked into his face and saw his beauty. His life culminating in seasons of laughter and wonder, conversation and delight that formed him that day. These were the moments that I never saw take place, but was able to witness in the color in his cheeks and the vibrancy of character. In memory of our moments of listening, I hear the heartbeat of life creating the rhythm of the dancing that takes us all to experience.
These photos take me back to where I have been and saw that it was important to be where I was. They are periods of standing in a place to witness the world around me which left me feeling my connection to it. Such places moved me with the rushing current of life has left me present to the unexpected that is always forming. I am ready to be a part of it. I am as ready as I'll ever be.
