Sunday, February 20, 2011

The Plains

We often refer to the peaks and valleys of our lives, metaphorically speaking, when describing the ups and downs of our existence, yet we don't often discuss the plains-the steady, unbroken plains.

The plains are neither thrilling nor devastating.

They are in no way extreme.

They simply are.

Life is very daily, and I am just learning how much. This new revelation is somewhat discouraging for a person of extremes, like myself. But, if I don't grapple with the reality of the plains now, I think I will only discover discontentment and spend too much of my energy chasing after the extremes, ultimately finding they are truly not as satisfying or sustaining as the contentment that's to be found along the plains of existence. It's easy to live in extremes, I find. But, it's more of a challenge, I believe, to live with intentionality amidst a fairly unchanging day-to-day.

Balance is always more difficult than imbalance.

I can't say I enjoy the plains, if I'm honest, but I hope I can learn from living here what it means to live well everywhere: peak, valley, or plain. It's not about where you are, but what you do with where you are. Contentment. Now, I have to figure out what that actually looks like. That could take awhile...

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