COKE PERSPECTIVE

COKE PERSPECTIVE, Summerfield, NC

 If you’re sitting around waiting on the world to entertain you, you’d better pack a lunch! I learned a long time ago during those long, hot, summer vacation school days that I needed to find something to love and learn do it as good as possible until I discovered something else to put in my tool kit. Learning something new like photography even if you don’t master it is a lifetime pursuit. Just make sure that it’s constructive, e.g., “rioting” never scores points on a resume. Neither does hacking a stranger’s Facebook account!

YEI-BE-CHAI

Spider Weaving, Jamestown, NC

 The Navajo believed that Spider Woman initially taught their ancestors how to weave their symbolic and spiritual rugs. And that makes perfect sense if you have ever watched a spider painstakingly weave each strand of an intricate web into a beautiful work of art, like the one I captured in the yard.

Karen and I debated buying a YEI-BE-CHAI rug in the Navajo Four Corners area years ago, but we were concerned about what we perceived as a flaw in one corner. Later we discovered it was a spirit line meant to allow a portion of the weaver’s soul to be released which had been woven into the art form—a beautiful belief.

DON'T BLINK

Hope of  Rebirth, Jamestown, NC

Kenny Chesney has a great country song titled “Don’t Blink” about the fleeting passage of time, e.g., you go to sleep one day and you wake up married to your childhood sweetheart!  Of course, time does seem to fly by faster when we’re enjoying ourselves instead of burning daylight in distasteful activities like going to the dentist.  If you Google “fleeting time” you’ll find many quotes on the subject.  And those observations cast a wide net over time and humanity.  You have to believe that every human being that ever drew a breath on this planet has easily experienced fleeting time, especially since modern man invented the clock.  But even earlier in time man watched the years, seasons and days slip by without ceasing. 

Only our creator has been recognized as being timeless, while we mortal beings with frontal lobes in our brains understand that our beginnings have endings that arrive all too soon.  Our pets wake up each morning living constantly in the present moment without the concern for endings.  We could all take that lesson from them, understanding that mortal life does have a stop date, but Jesus has left us with the promise to be with us always and he has prepared a forever spiritual life for us after this mortal life.

All of the miraculous wonders of another spring season burst into our lives every year to remind us of the hope for a meaningful life and the hope of rebirth available to all creation, because of the cross and resurrection that occurred one spring season over two thousand years ago.

We need to make peace with the passing of time and embrace each waking moment we have without knowing exactly how much sand is left in the hourglass.  I do recognize that I have more days behind me than I have ahead of me.  Using our time wisely and intentionally also includes wasting some of it to recharge and refresh.  If we can learn from the past and plan for the future, our present moments can be filled with gratitude, fearless hope, healthy relationships and new possibilities.  

So, don’t blink!  And we will rest in peace.