Q-BLOG #31 The Big "3D" Picture

To view pictures in 3D, visit: http://www.magiceye.com/client/new_years.html

Last Blog led to several emails, mostly about the song "Seasons of Love" and how people felt about it. It led to a conversation with my friend Tim Palmer about our individual journey's. He asked the questions, "I wonder how you will draw on this experience as you move forward in your life? I wonder where you go from here?" His questions led me to think about those 3D pictures done in dots. You know, the ones where you have to focus not on the dots, but sort of above them, in order for the picture to come into focus. If you try too hard, you don't see the picture. If you relax just a bit, suddenly, it comes into focus, and wa-la, you see the picture. You are amazed, because the reality is, the form was always there, it was just a matter of how you looked at it that finally allowed you to "discover" the entire picture.

My returning to Iraq was mostly to see if I could find a piece to a puzzle I felt was missing and one that seemed to be calling me back. I've tried to not focus on looking for the puzzle piece, but instead, waiting for it to reveal itself. I say this because I find that when I search for something, I can tear the entire contents of a room or house apart and not find it. When I am exhausted from this search, I sit down, relax and see that what I was looking for was in plain view.

I am wondering about the questions Tim asked. How will I draw from this experience and move forward? In some relaxed moments I feel I've seen the edges of the puzzle piece. Could I have "seen" this in the U.S.? Possibly, but I think there has been too much distraction there for me. In the U.S. I use time like a hungry person or maybe more like a glutton. Here in Iraq I am beginning to use time in a less manic way, almost to the point of being able to savor it instead of stuffing it down my throat not knowing or realizing what I've consumed.

Where will I go from here? My hope, my prayer is that I savor time each day, each minute instead of going through it like glutton, hungry to gobble up as much as I can as quickly as I can. What is the difference? I'll answer with a story. I feel like I've shared this before. At the moment I can't think of where I read this so it will be a bit general. The story is a familiar one with a modern day twist.

A study was being conducted at a seminary on how time can influence our decisions. The process was to give seminary students a sermon that they were to deliver to a waiting audience. The sermon was to be based on the parable of the Good Samaritan. There was a time limit. Each was given time to read the passage and prepare their sermon. Toward the end of the time, they were told,

1. They had ten minutes to get to the auditorium
2. They were to leave now in order not to be late, and
3. They were 5 minutes late.

Between the class room and the auditorium was a walk way. They had placed a person on this walkway that appeared to be in need of assistance. The results were astonishing. Remember, they had just read and prepared a sermon on The Good Samaritan. The student, who had 10 minutes before he was to appear, stopped and helped the person in need. The student who was just going to make it on time stopped and looked, but offered no help. The student who was late ran right past this person.

Are we focusing too hard on a goal or on a mission and letting the "picture" or experience of life evade us? Or are we allowing ourselves time to reveal the entire picture of life and our purpose in it? Are we rushing somewhere and ignoring or not seeing the "person in need"?

My journey forward needs to be taken more slowly so that I can see the things that are in plain view. Maybe then I will truly be able to see where I will go from here, but more importantly not to forget that it is all about the journey and less about where it ends.

I believe that each of us wants to find and know what our life purpose is. I feel I may know my own, but somehow I can't or won't acknowledge that purpose. Is this the missing piece? I've wondered lately if it is not so much a missing piece as it is a piece that needs to be removed. If something were covering an eye of the Mona Lisa, could we appreciate the picture or focus only on the what was covering the eye? Or like the 3D picture, where we must remove our perceptions and preconceived notions of how to 'see' something before we allow it to show itself. That is what I'm wondering. Our purpose, my purpose, like the 3D picture, is already there waiting only to be acknowledged.

As I began writing down the 30 things I want to have, the 30 things I want to do and the 30 things I want to be, I began focusing less on the notion of what I had learned to want to have, do and be and more on letting my heart tell me what I want to have, do and be. The edge of the picture is beginning to reveal itself. No - I am beginning to allow my eyes and heart to reveal the edge of the picture of my life and purpose which has been there all along waiting for me to acknowledge. It is there for you, waiting for you to acknowledge.

Let this journey take us to a point or place where we allow ourselves to acknowledge our purpose and taste the flavor that is life. May we sit at the table of life and savor each moment of time as we focus not on dessert, but on the people with whom we share the table.

Blessings and Peace. Choose love over fear. Eat slowly.

Robert