ToTo Too? Growing pains. Growing older.

Hint.

No two are alike.

Word on the street is they understand approximately 200 words.

Their mere presence helps to improve relationships with the people in your life.

When it is time for them to go home, it is one of the worst times of life.

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If we are lucky enough to hang out with them, life moves at a steadier pace of give and take. The day is just, better. No. Not every person loves them and yet they would lay down their life for that person, too. The attachment factor is deep. Soul and growth guiding. Growing pains hurt less. New phases and stages of life less cumbersome.

Growing older means detaching from the past. And. It means attaching to the present and the future. It’s making a decision to choose life now and a future that will last for eternity. The more important question isn’t how long we live but HOW we live. (hnw)

Our daily to do lists consist of this and that and busy, busy, busy. The main question we should be asking ourselves when we lose ourselves in the busy-ness—-

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Life can change in the blink of an eye. Because of this, we shouldn’t squander a moment in time with any one being. But. We foolishly do. Because we oftentimes get so caught up in the ME, we forget about the WE. We should saturate ourselves with the Word of God. (hnw) Saturation is a good thing when it comes to Him! He loves us unconditionally. Do we practice the same loving regard?

”Have I loved well?”

At the end of the day, was the way I conducted my business heard in all my conversations? Seen in my eyes? Felt when other people are in my presence? Was the truth spoken in love? Were my reactions? My devotions?” (hnw)

”Have I loved well?”

The most important of all actions and reactions we can make in a day. When we may have lost our way, put our soul on hold for the bigger “get.” Sacrificing is not for the weak and when we wander into the oblivion of what we consider better, we become

Lost.

The race becomes a hazed and dazed selfish performance of wicked and self-righteous plans and head fakes in order to keep the enemy on his toes. It works for some. Not so for others.

Long lost love. The one that got away? There are many ways to fall out of love. A mixture of love and distortion causes us to blame busy-ness as we fill our days with meaningless tasks.

Did you know that thinking is one of them? Love and logic are incompatible. Memories and the past get in the way. (hnw)

How do ya like them apples, huh. It is a wonder we do not lose our minds!

”Have I loved well?” Was I too distracted to notice the hurt?

”Distractions [from love] come in many forms. Thinking is one of them. The mind of man possesses boundless capacity, but as busy as it is, as great machine as it has proven to be, with as much swiftness and precision as the wheels can spin, it can be its worst enemy in matters of the heart.” (hnw)

Yes.

We cannot talk ourselves into love nor can we reason it away. (hnw)

Nice to know. We do not always understand our own heart. The feeling of how we love another confuses us and the distractions of the day cause our minds to wander. In some cases into the shallowness of life. Wading in and wading out. Selfishly thinking we have control of anything in life.

We do not. We have but one life. Not nine lives. Not the nine that exists and persists in the cat fight halls of the life and liberties being taken at the hands of a wicked fight. Safety becomes top of the to do list of the day. Terrible tantrums erupt at the corners of our mind. And we look over our shoulder endlessly and fearfully in the dread we may lose our beloved again.

Growing older is a gift.

Growing pains hurt.

Put the two together and the conundrum of leaving the past behind and stepping into the future is scarier than it should be. Memories and the past get in the way. (hnw) What occurs is reminders upon reminders upon reminders of the devastation that might have been.

But wasn’t.

Through it all, the quiet presence has been there. Watching and waiting to comfort the scaries and attempts to sideline the life this is. Life is good. Life can be handled with the grace given to us by beings who watch our every move.

And still love us.

Hint:

The loyal and carefree guy at your side is there because not only would he lay down his life for you, the tears flow freely when you think of the great loss that someday will occur when he is called home.

No one lives forever. We busy our days with the tenor we are so important not realizing in one second, one moment can change life’s course in a heartbeat. No heartbeat? The authority of who lives and who dies rests in His hands aLeah’s and forever. Not ours.

What humans think they can control. We really cannot. We lose strength in our minds when we fail to see the hurt we may cause when we lose our way. Obedient only to our fears when they overtake our heart.Lose our way, lose our patience. The wrath we place upon ourselves in an attempt to control the hurt and pain ends up a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As humans, there is no perfect love. We may reach rock bottom the same way we refuse the idea that getting older is a “thing”. Fight it tooth and nail. We are all impacted by growing older, our minds operate more slowly and our short-term may not be as sharp. We move about a little slower.

Through all the growing pains, seasoned stories, challenges of realities, episodes of despair, we learn to change the narrative, get back on track, stay the course, do no harm.

At the end of the day.

He is counting on us.

At the end of the day, ask

”How have I loved today?”

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