Walking the path

(2-minute read)

I was having coffee with a friend and noticed he didn’t stir it when he put cream into his coffee. He just sat there and looked at it.

“Do you need a spoon,” I said, offering my unused teaspoon.

“No, I like to watch the cream move in the coffee and see the eddies it forms as it mixes. It doesn’t take long and will completely mix with the coffee as if I’d stirred it.”

As the conversation continued, I discovered he had a PhD in fluid mechanics. We talked about how when things come into our lives, they are similar to cream and coffee. At first, it’s unique and interesting, but eventually, it’s mixed in with everything else we know. A few things changed me the way that cream changes coffee, such as having a relationship with the Lord, getting married, and having our first child.

Most new information goes into our brain, and it’s almost as if we’ve forgotten it until something reminds us, and then we dig it out. So many times, I have heard a sermon and thought it was so usefully informative and inspiring, but a few days later, I had difficulty remembering even the subject of the sermon. So much information comes to us daily, and it’s difficult to sort it all into what’s important and what isn’t.

I used to work with a man who had a brilliant mind. Each morning, he wrote a to-do list. On that list, he would include both business and personal things. He would also put in things he had just learned that he wanted to incorporate into his life or work. When we live a busy life, we are constantly pushed around and manipulated by all the events that are going on. What we thought of as very important to do first thing in the morning often gets downgraded during the day because other things are more urgent. My boss thought that things that were truly important to him might never have been done without his list.

He was a knowledgeable man who drove his life rather than letting circumstances be in control. Before I retired, I had taken on many of his business habits after seeing them work so well for him. My list and priorities were vastly different from his. I didn’t realize that retirement was so busy I needed to make up my list and set my daily priorities again. There is still much to do.

Photo by Karolina Kaboompics