Sunday, January 3, 2010

Have You Thought of your Next Step?

I’m still getting used to the fact that we are in the New Year. The most obvious sign occurs when I write down a date. You know how that works: you begin to write down the month and year on a memo or to type it into a blog post as I just did, and what you get is: xx-xx-2009. Whoops! It’s January, 2010, isn’t it?

Which reminds me: Have you made any resolutions yet? I stopped doing that about 15 years ago and try to think about life in a more basic way. For example: Have you thought recently about your next step? No, no . . . I don’t mean what you plan to do next at work, or at home, or with your friends.

What I mean is this: Have you thought about your next step? Literally! That is, have you thought seriously about what happens when you put one foot forward, then the next, and then the other – repeatedly? As in walking. What is behind all that?

You must think that I am certifiably insane (you wouldn’t be the first). Let me explain. A person who decides to walk doesn’t go through an elaborate mental process of instructing all of the involved body parts what to do. A dedicated part of the brain handles that automatically.

I once remember walking up to one of my brothers who was wheel-chair bound and bending over so he could hear me. His first words were, “I wish I could do that.” The remark took me by surprise.

I, as you might have done, took the simple task of walking and bending for granted. We all do. That is, until we can no longer perform it. Just ask any handicapped person.

Which leads me to this conclusion: Some power greater than anything we can adequately visualize must have set up the rules. I call that power God.

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