Ah! Cooler Weather.

It has been very hot in recent months with the humidity being in the high double digits.  I remember telling someone in San Antonio when I first moved there that the heat felt like it was going to last forever.  She replied, “Yes, it does.  But one day it is just cooler and it keeps getting that way.”

Today is the day at it got cooler.  It was 58 degrees when I got up this morning.  It felt so good that we took our two puppies out for a walk around the neighborhood.  When we got home, I took my coffee out on the patio and savored the hot and cool at the same time. 

I realized that what I was experiencing was the magnificence of life.  Life gives us the varieties in order to keep us interested and engaged in what is going on.  If it were all the same, I know I would have this tendency to quickly fall into what I am going to call being “asleep.”  For a long time, I walked through life asleep – not really paying attention to what was going on or where I was going.

Consequently, because of that, I have huge gaps in my memory of what my life was like during those periods.  I can’t remember if I was happy, sad, or who my friends were or what I was interested in during that time.  How sad.

Not only do I want to pay attention to the weather, but to pay attention to my life; the ups and downs are here for a purpose and I want to experience all of it.  I invite you to join me.

What's Next?

In the book, The Greatest Secret in the World, by Og Mandino, the author writes out in the Scroll Marked IV, “I am nature’s greatest miracle.  I can accomplish far more than I already have.  I am on this earth for a purpose and that purpose is to grow a mountain and I strain my potential until it cries for mercy.”

In thinking about my life, I know that I have more to accomplish and that I have never, to my knowledge, strained my potential.  I wonder what my life would have been now, had I strained my potential a little earlier on?  I drifted through my 20’s figuring out what I was “purposed” to do.  Plus, during that time, because I had little education, I couldn’t do much in order to support myself.  I was more concerned about food, clothing and shelter than what did I want to do the rest of my life.

I can also remember not making some very good choices about my life.  In a lot of ways, my 20’s were a time of figuring out life and my role in it.  I didn’t know how to “do” life or how to make the most of what I had at the time.

On our recent trip, we visited Jefferson’s Monticello in Virginia, and I was amazed at how much he accomplished during his life, the languages he spoke, and that he designed and was instrumental in building the University of Virginia.  Talk about leaving a lasting legacy.

Now, I truly feel as though I am better equipped and prepared for more of what life is and how to “do” life on a greater, grander scale than ever before.  I know that I have more potential to strain and I think I would like to know how that feels.  I would also like more experiences in which I astonish myself.  Those times in my life are rare but memorable.  I want more of them.

Since all of us are nature’s greatest miracle, there is more for all of us to experience.  What will be your “lasting” legacy?