Where the Clouds Are Far Behind Me

sometimes it seems that it is not the major events in our lives that cause the greatest suffering, but rather those petty annoyances that creep into our lives.  the garage door opener isn't working properly, it rains and we can't do the yard work we had planned on doing, the clothes rack in the laundry room falls from its position, or any one of a thousand little things that can go wrong does go wrong.  it is in those times that one wants to curse life and say, "why does everything happen to me."  it seems that as soon as we plug one hole in the metaphorical dike that is our daily life, another begins to leak.  

this past week has been one of those "leaky dike" weeks for me.  this was brought home to me in a dream i had.  in the dream, we had moved into a new home.  everywhere i looked there were little things that needed to be done.  the furniture and all our belongings were in place, so the major tasks were completed, but there seemed to be a million minor things that demanded to be taken care of.  my wife, as is her custom, was busily making lists of all these jobs that we had to face, and i could feel my frustration growing.  i was about to say in my most irritated voice, "stop with the lists.  it's too much!" when i awakened, relieved  that it was only a dream.  in that moment i realized that my dream was the summation of the petty annoyances of the week that i had not been very good at dealing with.

i was reminded of the part of my daily meditation where i pray, "may i be constant."  by that, i set an intention of remaining calm and peaceful regardless of the circumstances.  i hope to view all of life with equanimity, accepting the bad with the good and dealing with it all without allowing excess emotions.  what one intends and what one does are not always the same, as the past week demonstrated.  none of us is perfect.  my reactions to all the little mishaps that were part of my life in recent days reminded me that i am only human.  i always have work to do to become the person i intend to be.  everything worked out in the end.  all the broken things were pretty easily repaired or replaced.  the schedules that didn't work out caused only minor inconveniences.  life was still awfully good, even if it wasn't perfect.

may we stop and smell the roses.  may we let go of anger and frustration and appreciate all the good that life brings us.  may we do the work that is needed to live out our intentions.  may we be grateful for trials that teach us how to become better people.  shalom.