Ride on Ghost Rider

OK, I'll admit before I make you read this entire post that it's kinda sappy and introspective focus is probably motivated by the holidays.  There, I said it, and if'n that makes you sick because you just can't stand another version of "It's a Wonderful Life" story, you can just stop reading here.

But if you're still with me, I want to tell you about a really cool lesson that I've learned over the last few years that became focused this morning at 5:00 a.m. as I was riding that torture machine we like to call the elliptical.  No, it's not really torture and I do get a chance for some personal time to reflect and review.  That's what was happening when Reba came on my headphones (yes, I wear headphones listening to music AND reflect on some personal issues at the same time) with the narrative story of The Christmas Guest.  This is a touching story about the love we are suppose to share all year and how that love is focused at Christmas as we infuse everything about our lives with the love of Jesus.

Anyway, as I was riding the elliptical and thinking about the journey or "ride" that each of us is on throughout our lives, I thought about how the focus of our lives change during the holidays to something that is much more all warm and squishy "touchy-feely" because we pause in our head long rush through our daily grind to spend some extra time with family and friends.  Then I recalled last year about a question that had been posed by an unknown author somewhere or another about why we don't make Christmas last the whole year through and how different our lives would be.  Man, that made me think about the love we share and how our lives are about love and not all that "Stuff" that tends to occupy our lives and confuse our minds on a daily basis.  I considered how our daily rut tends to trap and constrict and confine us into a jail of our own design.

Now, stay with me, because I know I'm ramblin' but this is the point because I then thought of how much I love to ride my motorcycle but every time I get somewhere and stop, and get off the bike, I just can't wait to get back on and ride some more.  What occurred to me was that riding a motorcycle, for me, was what my daily life SHOULD be like....(dramatic pause)..."It's not the destination, it's the journey."


So, if you remember way back to the beginning of this post, I was deep into my workout on the elliptical and I was having this V8 moment about the real meaning of Christmas and the real meaning of life where God's smacks me upside the head and says, "Now you're getting it."  (I'm not saying I have complete control of this concept because I am quite sure I'll screw it up, given enough time.)  And then it occurred to me that when we spend just a little extra time with our families and friends this holiday, exchanging hugs and gifts and stuff, we actually are closer to our intended purpose of simply loving each other, and only using the holidays as an excuse to get together, kinda' like returning to elementary school to relearn some of the stuff we already knew but had forgotten.  Duh...

But then I was reading a post by Rachel Jonat at the Minimalist Mom and she echoed the same discovery when she wrote about post competitive depression.  It's a great read and I highly recommend her blog.  But let me do her the injustice to summarize both of our experiences in a weak attempt to make this post shorter because it's already too long: When we loose focus on the real objective of our lives which is love, we become confused by the clutter that surrounds us in our daily living and are drawn into the mire of acquiring and keeping up and achieving.  The point is, Love is all that really matters.  Love what you do, love those around you, love yourself, and love the time you spend doing the things you choose to do.  Everything else is noise and clutter.

OK, I've done it again and turned a meaningless post into dramatic grandstanding.  But hey, it's my blog, so it's OK...

Thanks for stopping by.  Let's get out there and love each other, and make it a great day!