I was on vacation with my family last week in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. In many ways, I’m a simple guy. I like the many simple pleasures that life offers, and I find it easy to enjoy those simple pleasures again and again.
- Sweet, warm fruit, in a fresh pie crust, soft and crumbly
- Rich, thick ice cream that awakens your mouth with mint as it melts on your tongue, and cools your throat as you swallow.
- A hot shower on a cold day
- A quiet conversation with an old friend
- Holding a child’s warm, soft hand as you smile at each other
It may not be popular to praise simple things, but I’ve never been interested in being popular.What are the little things that bring you pleasure in life? Ok, it’s not cool or glamorous to get excited about these things, but go ahead. No one’s watching. No one will see you admit that there are many things in your life that bring you delicious moments of comfort and satisfaction.
They may only last a moment, but life is built of moments.
What holds all of our moments together? Is it the name that I call myself? Is it my memory that collects all of these moments together in one place? Is it the changing body that I call me? Is it the simple wants I have, and the feelings that are expressed again and again in different circumstances?
I search for what holds all of these moments together, and the answer seems out of reach.
Can it be that the moments of life are randomly strung together, only related in superficial ways? Sometimes, when I focus only on the moments, I think that way.
You see, I get distracted by those moments. Distracted by all of these wonderful little wants filling up my moments, that I forget something deeper, darker, stronger — a desire far more difficult to satisfy, and much harder to control.
Is your life defined by all of the little things you want, or is there some powerful desire, some yearning that is calling you? Sometimes I think I’m a collection of all these little wants, and other times I feel something deep and powerful calling me.? It’s this calling that can turn these random moments of life into a powerful story.
It’s not an either/or. I don’t have to give up the small pleasures of life and the little wants. But I may want to get some perspective. I may want to put a little distance between who I am and the importance of all these little pleasures. There may be something much bigger waiting for me.
It would be sad to give up what’s waiting for me, just for some ice cream, however delicious.
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