Meaningless was the focus of Pastor Evan’s sermon today at Northgate. As always, he delivered with intoxicating energy and abundance of humor we’ve come to know and love. Fire hydrants suddenly have new meaning – you had to be there to understand.
So why meaningless and on a day of remembering? Meaningless is what we call walking through life longing for material goods, wealth and tangible possessions never feeling fulfilled when, in fact, all we need to fill our cup is God’s good grace.
This brings me to my focus on today’s inspirational post. Being the impatient driver that I am who poorly planned her morning commute to Church forgetting to take into consideration the bumper to bumper traffic as folks make their way to Remembrance Day parades, I found myself rather irritable behind the wheel attempting to dodge every backed up lane along the route. On this drive, not even Sirius XM’s The Message could stifle my growing angst.
And for what purpose was I behaving this way? Meaningless. My reaction to a situation outside of my control was meaningless. The only thing I could have changed was to leave the house earlier. Even still, had I arrived late there would be no crashing of lightning bolts from the heavens expressing the Lord’s dismay for my tardiness. Fortunately, that’s not what He is all about. He meets us where we are at and takes us beyond the superficial to a life more meaningful filled with purpose.
A moment of silence after the singing of O’Canada could not be more timely – a much needed chance to reflect and, as my mood changed, I reminisced on many aspects going on in life today. The events that transpired this weekend, my colleagues in uniform, my father and his father, both who served. I reminisced about my granddad’s medals. The ones I had packaged up among other precious items and shipped off to my brother in Thailand never to arrive in his hands or be seen again. Material things that thave so much meaning but, in the end, is meaningless because we can never hold them in our hands again. But what we do have are the stories that, to the best of our memory, tell of their value measured in events, sacrifices, triumphs, accomplishments,and many other milestones in a career. I have two medals although I will never wear them to a parade or display them in a frame. It’s not my style.
But my medals tell stories. Journals tell stories and are a blessing to share years later. My mastery journal will one day be looked at by someone, perhaps my daughter or her children. Perhaps me as I look back at this journey.
Getting back to the point of this journal entry as it relates to mastery, I came to a realization that at almost the age of 50, I need to get comfortable with my lot in life. And it’s a good lot. I have freedom and in such a wonderful country in the world to live. My health and that of my family is great. We have all the check’s in the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs box checked off. But there is more. There’s an uneasiness stirring inside and I pushing me toward a higher calling. This Master’s degree is only a stepping stone. I have not found my greater purpose, but I could not be more consciously aware of it without the enlightenment from reading Mastery by Robert Greene.
Our great masters – Benjamin Franklin, Abert Einstein, Marcel Proust, and many more -achieved some of their most profound work and best discoveries later in life. Those years of dedicated practice connected to their sense of destiny landed them to greatness. Therein life can one find meaning. It’s a perfect marriage of spiritual connectedness with a physical activeness of the brain which stimulates our creativity, allowing us to feel alive but belonging to the great whole.
May today serve as a reminder to walk this path with patience. It’s not a sprint and there are no detours.
Lest we forget.
Mary Lee's Mastery Journal 