I’ve talked
about my morning ritual upon rising from my bed each morning in previous
posts. My first stop is to look out the
window. Every now and then, if I’m
lucky, I might spot a deer grazing, sometimes two. Kim and I put bird feeders in our backyard,
so now I look to see what type and color of bird we might be feeding. Being fairly new to Virginia, I’m not that
familiar with some species other than a sparrow, a robin, a cardinal or a bluebird.
Overlooking the
trees in our backyard, way up the hill and off in the distance, there is a
radio tower. The light blinks on, then
off, then on, then off, over and over and over, nonstop and presumably forever.
Then it’s shower
time. I hate it when the water starts
out hot, goes to warm and then runs cold.
I mean, come on! Tough way to
begin a morning, right?
A Blinking Red
Light. Hot water to warm water to cold
water.
Kind of like
relationships and the stages we might go through in those relationships, and
sometimes – sadly – what happens with those relationships.
A Blinking Red
Light is a warning. It warns low flying
aircraft that if they go too low, they might be in danger of hitting it. A Blinking Red Light is sort of like a beacon
that says, “Hey! I’m here! Do you see me?” Or perhaps more aptly stated, kind of like an
“I need you now!” and then an “Everything’s okay, no need for you now!” Over and over in a pattern that again,
presumably lasts forever.
Whereas water
turning from hot, to warm, to cold is like the beginning to the end. The warmth is gradually, sometimes suddenly,
gone. Perhaps sort of like passion. Perhaps sort of like friendship. Perhaps sort of like love.
I sometimes
think of my relationship with God as a blinking light. At times, things are going so very well, so
nicely, that I forget. Sometimes I don’t
feel “the need.” I don’t read, or think
of, or meditate, or pray as I should, as I ought, as I “need” to. But when things don’t go well, when things
are rocky, when there is doubt and fear, I most definitely feel “the need.” I’m literally driven to my knees.
How sad is that?
Perhaps you can’t
“picture” that, but think about it in terms of a relationship you might have .
. . or had. Like the water turning from
hot to warm to cold, did that relationship grow in the same direction?
Or . . .
Think about your
relationships with others.
Do you sometimes
take that person for granted? Things
going well, at least from your point of view, so there isn’t the need to reach
out, to talk with, to be with, to give comfort to? Then you recognize the distance, the “coldness”
and the “lack of light” and suddenly there is the need to reach out, to close
that distance, to make amends?
Like A Blinking
Red Light, we have times in our life when there is light and when there is
darkness. And like the water that starts
out hot, and then goes warm and then goes cold . . . well, I would hate for
anyone to have a relationship like that.
Real friends, true friends, are hard to come by. I think we need to do all we can to nurture
friendships, to grow relationships and grow friendships, rather than watch them
. . . feel them . . . grow cold. We need
to take care of them before they grow cold, before the Blinking Red Light goes
dark. I know it happens from time to
time. I get that. But I’d rather have one or two close, loving
friendships, true giving and supportive relationships, than any that are like
insipid lukewarm or cold water.
Something to think about . . .
Live Your Life,
and Make A Difference!