Dear Sincerely Really Blog Followers:
Wow how long it’s been. I started this blog in the hopes of encountering each month by keeping a promise to myself and recommitting to my writing. Like any personal promise the moment you take that first step obstacles appear out of nowhere. Even with the Rocky theme song of “Eye of the Tiger” playing in my head, papers to grade, dinners to cook, owies to heal on my three year old’s knees and then of course more papers to grade began to fly at me like a pitching machine. The problem with playing a game of fast pitch is the slightest blink of an eye and you can be pelted by baseballs the speed of bullets. My attempt to do all things had me feeling like I was failing at everything and it was at that moment that I found myself driving behind a truck that read “Passing Side” to the left and “Suicide” to the right. In an attempt to not commit suicide while speeding on the freeway to take a picture of a truck advertising suicide, I slowed down and tucked the sentiment away in my mental file cabinet. Another week passed, another meeting, another kindergarten tour, home loan applications to fill out, a new batch of papers to grade and still no writing. “Too much to do and too little time” is a constant on my to do list and now the image of the truck with the morbid sign had also taken permanent residence in my memory. I have no room in my rapid ruminations for images of heavy haul Mack Trucks, but morning and night, “Passing Side” to the left. “Suicide” to the right had me beginning to wonder, what if all of life’s choices came with warning signs. For instance, lunch: “Delicious and Affordable” to the left, “Food poisoning” to the right. Dating: “Gentleman who doesn’t want you to be his mother” to the left, “Sociopath” to the right. The caution symbols would be posted clear as day and if you choose “Death" right side around the bend, you only have yourself to blame. I spent days irked at the absence of signs in my life until my evening bible study pointed me in the direction of a scripture I had come to adore years ago. Deuteronomy 30:19 reads, “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” When I first came to love this scripture I had used it in a graduation speech. At the young age of 21, I cavalierly talked about the importance of choices in life but up to that point the biggest decision I had to make was which graduate school to attend. Choosing life was an easy choice because life in many ways had already chosen me. Adulthood, however, brought with it a fair share of unexpected hurts and challenges. That naïve girl speaking before thousands was going to be tried by the fire for the rest of her twenties and the question would remain would she still choose life even after heartache. Would she go through the fire and come out gold? Would she veer left on the “Passing Side” so that she and her child could live? It dawned on me as I reintroduced myself to Deuteronomy 30:19 that we are given the desired instructions on how to live. The cautionary tales come in the form of that still small voice whispering inside of us which direction to take. The key, however, is to find time to slow down and listen. While running late, as always, and speeding behind a truck providing public notice of how NOT to die I was reminded that life is indeed what you make it. Mulling over what you didn’t accomplish in a day won’t help for tomorrow, but if each day you make a step toward your inner purpose each night should be cause for cheer. Today I slowed down, turned up the volume on that inner voice, wrote a chapter, wrote this blog, prepped dinner, took a nap and felt blessed to be on the passing side. Slow the pace. Breathe in deep. Choose life—Sincerely, Really.
