All Aboard
“I hear the train a comin’
It’s rolling round the bend…” — Johnny Cash, Folsom Prison Blues
Human beings take up their own place, time, and space like all physical things.
From a singular point of view, it may seem at times that our needs do not align with the desires of those around us. We operate under the illusion that the confluence of our lives is to be like a grand rail station…each of us moving forward with a predetermined schedule and pace. Each dutifully keeping to their own tracks.
Maybe from a distance, life appears that way. But when you’re at street level, it can seem random and chaotic. All decisions become a different stop along the tracks. Should we keep this job or pursue another? What’ll we name the baby? Do I really want fries with that?
Thousands of choices, big and small, everyday.
How long should we linger at each station? How can we prepare for the switches ahead?
People and situations may arrive in our lives before or after we think they should, running on parallel tracks for a time or even linking their cars with ours. Then too, sometimes they decouple…with or without our permission.
Anyone who has ever waited at a railroad crossing knows that no amount of wishing is going to change the speed of a train or clear encumbered tracks any faster.
With all this (loco?) motion, it is easy to lose sight of the larger picture.
Trains are designed to move forward. It’s what they are made to do. Likewise we are designed to grow with each new experience.
Life is not about our future destination as the memes might suggest. Certainly we can be planful and set goals, but to get the very most out of our lives, we must be present now…be mindful of the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches in this very moment. Take them in and learn from them.
Only then can we traverse life with fullness of experience…and be positioned to make our best, most authentic choices at each station along the way.
