Everyone you see today…
is traveling through time
right alongside you.
Different story.
Different path.
Same journey.
WE TRAVEL TOGETHER…HOW NEAT IS THAT?
If you stop to consider it, everyone you see today will likely be gone within the next hundred years.
Here now, we rarely give that much thought.
Neither did those who came before us.
They lived.
They planned.
They dreamed.
And then they left.
Many of us enjoy imagining future events, yet seldom include the possibility of not being here to see them.
Yet such is the reality of life.
This concept is not limited to human beings either.
Everything is given its moment.
Everything takes its turn.
LIVE LIFE
The cycle of life is extraordinary.
Everything that possesses life seeks to live it.
And remarkably, it does so without needing instruction.
Life carries within itself a built-in prompt to live.
Even the less appreciated life forms — flies, spiders, weeds and poison ivy — are simply seizing the opportunity offered to them.
They too are participating in the gift of existence.
NO ACCIDENTAL MEETINGS
Take note of wherever you are when you are out and about.
Every person you see made the same decision you did.
To leave home.
To go somewhere.
To participate.
You may not know them.
Yet for a brief moment you share the same event.
What makes it fascinating is that each person arrived there by an entirely different path.
Different preparations.
Different reasons.
Different stories.
Yet all met at the same place.
COMMON GROUND
Whether sitting in a movie theater, eating lunch, shopping at a store or driving down a highway, the same life dynamic is at work.
Others wanted to be there too.
We may be unique individuals with distinct identities and purposes…
but we share far more common ground than we often realize.
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
To deepen this observation, notice those who appear less fortunate.
Pause and wonder:
Could that have been me?
Was that once me?
What circumstances led them there?
What choices?
What hardships?
What opportunities missed or never given?
Everyone carries a story.
Every person has walked through valleys known only to them.
THE YOU & THE ME
Perhaps they did not choose wisely.
Perhaps they were never given the chance.
Perhaps they simply lost their way.
I have no trouble saying:
“There go I but for the many untold second chances given to me.”
Those second chances altered my course.
And many came through the help of others.
IF YOU’RE OKAY…
No one arrives where they are entirely alone.
Someone helped.
Someone encouraged.
Someone forgave.
Someone opened a door.
Someone gave another chance.
It is wise, then, to extend the same grace to others.
Not because they deserve it.
Not because they earned it.
But because it was once given to you.
THE FLOW
I genuinely want the best for everyone I meet.
Even those I never meet.
But there is a catch.
They must want it too.
They must participate.
They must do their part.
Life’s opportunities continue flowing by.
And we are invited to enter that flow while it is within reach.
WITHIN REACH
I recently visited a local Goodwill store.
It was packed.
People searching for things others no longer wanted.
Items once forgotten became treasures again.
What one person discarded became another person’s opportunity.
With very little money, someone could acquire something that otherwise would have remained beyond their reach.
There is wisdom in that.
A VAPOR THIS LIFE IS LIKE
A hundred years is not very long depending on how you measure it.
Plants, animals and insects do not measure time as we do.
They simply seize the opportunity to live.
Humans often assume things will continue indefinitely.
Reality teaches otherwise.
Life is brief.
But a life well lived pays generously.
TAKE A MOMENT
There is something about this season of life that encourages reflection.
We notice what we have.
We notice what we lack.
We notice others as well.
Regardless of the season or circumstance, gratitude and humility deepen every experience they touch.
Operate from those two virtues…
and life becomes richer.
AULD LANG SYNE
I will see you out there.
Perhaps not you specifically.
But our kind.
The travelers.
The dreamers.
The seekers.
The ones journeying through life at the same time.
Here today.
Gone tomorrow.
Yet together while we are here.
At the very least…
allow me to buy you a cup of kindness.
My treat.
Until next time we meet…
— Richie
Pearls for the Soul
when you feed the soul, you feed everything.
https://pearlsforthesoul.com
Been expecting you