Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Levitating


I was going through some of the daily readers last night and came across this from Daily Reflections. It was a perfect reminder of what to do when I am getting impatient with myself.

"Impatience with other people is one of my principal failings. Following a slow car in a no-passing lane, or waiting in a restaurant for the check, drives me to distraction. Before I give God a chance to slow me down, I explode, and that’s what I call being quicker than God. That repeated experience gave me an idea. I thought if I could look down on these events from God’s point of view, I might better control my feelings and behavior. I tried it and when I encountered the next slow driver, I levitated and looked down on the other car and upon myself. I saw an elderly couple driving along, happily chatting about their grandchildren. They were followed by me–bug eyed and red of face–who had no time schedule to meet anyway. I looked so silly that I dropped back into reality and slowed down. Seeing things from God’s angle of vision can be very relaxing."

Since my wife has been out of town, I've found that there is a lot to do from dawn until hours after dark. Now that she is retired, she spends a lot of time working on the garden and around the house. After I got home from work, I worked in the garden, picked vegetables, walked the dogs, cut grass, and eventually cooked dinner.

I was getting impatient with myself as I was rushing to get everything done. I was hot from the oppressive heaviness of the humid air and dirty from all the chores. As I was picking beans, squash, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, and peppers from the garden, I had to laugh. Here I was with all of this bounty of food from the garden, and I was focused on a schedule. Instead of just enjoying the moment, my mind was moving ahead to the next thing to get done.

So if I had looked down on the event from God's point of view, I would have seen a grubby man, drenched with sweat standing in a lovely garden furiously picking vegetables. Two of the dogs would have been looking at me and gently wagging their tails, no doubt wondering in their doggy minds about what all the hurry was about.

God would then have seen me laugh at myself, take the basket of produce, go to the house and fix a dinner of squash casserole, steamed green beans, eggplant fried with cinnamon, cherry tomatoes dusted with sea salt, and a cucumber and green onion salad. Cooking eased the impatience and a feeling of great satisfaction and peace came instead. I felt as if I were levitating after that meal.

21 comments:

  1. What a great post. You write so visually, the images stay with me long after the writing. This week has been frenetic, and really, who am I spinning from one thing to the next for? Thanks.

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  2. I get so much out of my daily readers. They make you smile while driving home the point.

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  3. I need to find what I did with my daily reader, it s been ages since I have seen it!

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  4. your garden grows faster than my garden, is it my location or am i doing something wrong. see where i take it, what an awesome picture of your harvest!!

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  5. Syd,
    Thanks for painting such a gentle reminder for us.
    My new favorite saying-- "Man plans, God laughs."

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  6. Sounds like my kind of meal. That's one thing I have been longing for while in this writing workshop -- every night I get home and miss my garden terribly.

    It's too early for any veggies for us here. Just herbs ready to harvest. We might get radishes in another couple weeks, although it's only been in the 70s this week. I envy your eggplants!

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  7. I don't like eggplant but love the fresh vegetables - it was a nice view from here to...

    Thank you...

    Blessings and aloha...

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  8. Sometimes when I don't know when to slow down God will do it for me. He usually makes me.

    I won't ever understand why we try to rush life some times.

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  9. you have a wonderful spirit Syd,as newcomer said, your writes are so visual and they do stay with us for a long time.. SMILES

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  10. Hi Syd!

    Those tomatoes and peppers look divine. The picture caught my eye as I was impatiently reading about impatience. That's one of those particularly sticky character defects that I think is gone but is really velcro-ed to my back or upside my head.

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  11. I loved this change of vantage point thinking. I will have to give it a try.

    I like the idea of levitating. Who knows what I might see or experience from that new perspective.

    Thanks Syd for the idea and this beautiful post.
    PG

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  12. At home, I read my wife's daily reader...should have brought it on the trip...of course, it's online, I'm SURE!

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  13. gosh, this rings so like me. i find myself in a hurry and impatient, and when i ask myself 'why?' there's actually no reason. time a-plenty. and that's when the pressure and the load eases... love this post. and your dinner menu!!!

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  14. An important reminder to slow my ass down, Syd. Thanks!

    Love you,

    SB

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  15. Great post. I find it helpful to try and put myself in the other person's frame of mind. I am not that person and don't know what they may be dealing with. Truly, who am I to judge. We all need to slow down. Sounds like a great dinner, and it was also fit for my vegetarian body.

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  16. Eggplant with cinnamon? can you email me a recipe? i'm intruiged.
    swimmingclear@gmail.com

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  17. Thats just hit the nail on the head with me its amazing how many times in the day you get angry from someone dithering, I am going to look from Gods eye more live more in the moment.
    Just got back from helping an old friend with his computer.

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  18. Great reminder. Your garden sounds incredible!!! I would love to have those veggies home grown!

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