.....a lyric from one of many versions of Arirang (Very old traditional Korean folk song). I've included a link, listen to it, it's breathtaking.
Click and Listen to Arirang -Traditional Korean Folk Song
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Beginnings are naturally headed toward endings.
And endings point the way to new beginnings.
A child cries out her new life
as a mother exhales the last breath of her former self, willingly.
Winter kills Fall, as snow thumps down and covers wet leaf.
Then spring finally liquefies winter and she flows away gracefully.
Young puppy tries to catch its tail. Over and over. Happily.
Geese fly south when it's cold and return again when it's warm.
Old man returns to being hairless, teethless, and helpless.
As he remembers his childhood fondly, he is ready for the end.
Nature lets go. Nature is endings and beginnings. We are nature.
Why can't I let go?
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"Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God"
.........Jesus (Luke 9, 62).
Sounds pretty harsh eh? And are we all meant to be booted out of heaven cause we can't seem to let go of the past? Or we try and we mess up? I am sure the answer is no.
I really wondered what his means for a while. Whenever Jesus sounds like a hard-ass I know something is not right in my understanding of what he was saying. I waited. I prayed. I think I figured it out. (This is how it usually goes).
If you think of being a farmer, and riding on a plow, and turning back and focusing your attention there, you would naturally lose your ability to drive your plow straight. You would end up driving in all kinds of directions and messing up your field, or crashing, tipping your tractor, or worse. Basically having a few plowing issues and not riding along with ease, listening to his tunes, enjoying the sunshine, like a farmer should. We are all meant to live at ease and in harmony, like a happy farmer, you might say.
In order to know where you are going, you have to keep your eyes on what's ahead of you, and not spend your time looking back at where you have come from. Straight paths come from forward focus, and knowing the direction you are headed, and once you are going straight you can relax and enjoy (and that is part of the essence of the Kingdom of God, for now at least).
I guess it's pretty hard to live like a happy farmer with beautifully plowed fields when you are busy looking back at what you did when you were an angry lost unhappy farmer, who seemed to make an entire mess of his land.
Jesus, I love the way you look at things.
Thank God for fresh fields to plow.
Click to see trailer for an amazing movie. "Spring Summer Winter Fall....and Spring"
