Wednesday, January 16, 2008

the bus

Today I listened to a former alcoholic tell of times he would rather forget. He mentioned how he was looking forward to pursuing a position as a counselor for those that are where he was.

While that was encouraging, what caught my attention the most was how he would recall something that he had done while inebriated and remember causing someone or possibly himself pain.

I noted in his voice that instances like these were recurring and they bothered him greatly. He felt remorse but knew there was little he could about what had already happened. Instead, he seemed to find new focus in the thought of helping other people, especially teenagers, deal with alcohol and find treatment.

I didn’t say anything to him at the time and instead absorbed the content. After some time it hit me how amazing it is that while we are beat down by certain circumstances in this life, some people take these situations and turn them into opportunities to help others avoid the same problems.

The wonderment for me comes with the acknowledgement of just how selfish we can be. Traveling along at the speed of extremely busy, it’s easy to miss a lot. In fact it’s easy to miss anything that’s not attached to us.

We are each on a proverbial bus that’s moving at some insane speed. There are several seats on the bus and we choose to fill those seats with a few people who see our life as we live it at the speed with which we are going. Sometimes new people get on and sometimes people get off and never come back. I think it’s fair to say that there are rarely ever more than ten people on your bus. You just don’t have that kind of time for more than that many relationships while traveling at such a high rate of speed.

Once you figure out who’s driving and you can get them to slow down a bit, you can begin to add more passengers. But to actually stop once in a while and take on a temporary rider for no other reason than to just give a brother or sister a quick lift? That’s what we are talking about here. Taking the time to let someone into your life just long enough to help them got to where they are going.

my life is not mine, and yet it is mine to live for Him. Peace to you all.

D

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That last paragraph is where I had to put myself to get through the "loss" of Erin. I don't think people understood, losing her to the life she chose, was very difficult. Yet with hindsight, I know that God had me in her life for the amount of time He willed. Painful or not, I was meant for such a time as that. She got on the bus, rode a while, and then got off at her stop. i waved "goodbye".
-Royale