More or Less

"Give me miles and miles of mountains and I’ll ask for the sea..."

                                                                                       in a song by Damien Rice

I am reminded of a friend from years past, from a time before either of us had families.  She confided in me that she wished she had what I had, I looked at her incredulous, because I had been wishing that I had what she had.  It happened to me again, just the other day and I was again taken aback.  A different friend, a different time, each of us wanting what the other had, wanting what the other has.  Mind you, neither exchange had anything to do with money, material gain or things, but they had to do with life, issues of the heart and soul, wanting less, wanting more.  These friends had the sea but wanted mountains and I...I had mountains but wanted the sea.

Here is the truth, we have so much, yet we want more, we want what is on the other side of the fence, we want to walk in the greener grass that lays there, sways there, beautiful, dotted with flowers and stirring with lovely birds and butterflies who want to live there.  We want that.  We fail to see that what we have is just as beautiful, just as green and lush and fragrant...just different.

I read a quote the other day, I was struck by it, it affected my thoughts and hung in my mind...it is there still.  This quote speaks to what the Bible talks about, you can find it in Matthew and Luke, and Paul talks about it in Phillipians. We talked a bit about the quote today during our coffee time...

 

“Everyone thinks life is about getting things and getting more money, but it’s not 

– life is about losing everything”

                                                                                    

I love that, it quiets the soul, it takes the pressure off, it gives permission to just be, to accept our losses, because that is what life is about, not more, not greener or more lush but about less, living with less, loving with less, accepting loss and surviving it, climbing the mountains and surfing the sea, despite the loss.  Life is about losing everything.

We are all different, some with more, some with less, some have mountains, others have the sea. 

Yes, I have miles and miles of mountains, but now and then, I find myself asking for the sea.