What's the Small Stuff?

As I sat at a stop light on a multi-lane road, the light changed from red to green. A millisecond later, one driver beeped the car horn. Was that for me? What’d I do wrong? That’s what I would have thought years ago when I first started driving. Back then a parallel parking spot used to send me hunting for a “regular” space. Okay, it still does. But the point is now, with years of experience under my belt, whenever I hear a car horn beep while I’m driving, I think, “Hold your horses. You should’ve left home earlier!”   

If you talk with anyone sixty years and older, I believe they’ll tell you that the things they worried about decades ago pale in comparison to the issues that occupy their thoughts today. It’s interesting how knowledge and experience change our perspectives. Sometimes it’s a matter of focusing on the big picture.

One of our kids chose to replicate Neptune for a science project, and I learned it’s approximately seventeen times the earth’s mass. I’m always fascinated by the solar system and our position in it. We always seem to discover something new things in space. This video provides us with a fresh perspective on life and our universe: 

                                                      https://youtu.be/58fs5yI8K9I  

If you’re feeling insignificant, be encouraged! Despite the minuscule blip of space we occupy in the universe, we still have big jobs to tackle, like creating lasting legacies through role modeling. As you pass on the wisdom you’ve learned over the years, what small stuff would you advise someone else not to sweat?   


Edited and reprinted 2011(and still true)

It’s Super Natural

Anything not nurtured is unlikely to grow. For instance, consider the little tree in our yard that’s been the same size for years. In winter, it stands there battling the ice and snow. In the summer, somehow it endures the sun’s scorching heat. When a brown group of leaves emerge, I expect the tree to dry up and die, but the brown leaves fall off and the tree remains. It’s  either a dwarf tree or a miracle tree. Of course, I prefer to call it a miracle tree because it survives every challenge the weather brings. Here’s another survivor:

http://youtu.be/PztJkvChtOo

 

The video seemed to show a miracle, but the hiker gave a scientific explanation for every aspect of the amazing scene. Typically, we assume that whatever science can explain isn’t a miracle. Is that always true? People will accept a scientific theory until the next theory trumps the last one, so maybe science doesn’t have the final say about everything. What do you say? What miracles have you experienced?   

   

Animals and Blurred Lines

Now that cooler temperatures have settled in, everyone wants to fire up a backyard fire pit. If you don’t own one, you probably know someone who does. I had an opportunity to sit around a large bonfire this week, one that included over twenty-five people. I couldn’t believe how much heat the fire gave off.  I thought it might singe my eyebrows when I roasted marshmallows for the smores. If you’re thinking only kids and the young-at-heart enjoy roasting marshmallows, check this out:

                                              http://youtu.be/GQcN7lHSD5Y  

That poor creature doesn’t need those marshmallow calories; everyone knows you can’t eat just one.  Before they know it, the lab will be missing marshmallows and matches. Call in Smokey the Bear. You know what they say, “Fire safely goes, danger grows.”

Just because we can practice or teach particular behaviors and skills doesn’t mean we should. Who should decide where to draw the line?