Sunday, June 19, 2011

We just do not understand Love

"Oft expectation fails, and most oft where most it promises; and oft it hits where hope is coldest; and despair most sits." ---William Shakespeare

Love [luhv] -- a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.


There it is the official definition of love when used as a noun. Why is it that we humans screw this up so badly? Imagine for a moment if the Lord managed to screw up this most important part of life. How long would this world last? Perhaps, love for a child is far greater than any other type of love.

Look at divorce statistics or perhaps, like me, you can just draw on personal experience. Why is it that two people set out on a journey together and for reasons unknown allow outside influences to seek out and destroy that relationship? Many times the two in love see the world from two completely different lenses.

I find it odd that after a relationship marriage or otherwise, we humans confess that we would have absolutely no interest in the person with whom we were once involved. Perhaps it comes down to personal growth. I know in my own experience, we desired different outcomes for the future. Our individual personal growth charts no longer charted the same course.

On this Father’s day, my heart goes out to all the fathers that desired to, but were not able to spend time with their children due to failed relationships. Fortunately, I traded a custody day to spend time with my beautiful children on Father’s day. It was a wonderful morning filled with smiles and laughter. As mentioned above, as our Father in Heaven knows, there is nothing quite like the love for a child.

I am so grateful that I am able to share my beautiful children and have once again found love. Our personal growth charts are more appropriately aligned and the negative and destructive outside influences that were present on both sides of my past relationship have been removed. I look forward to a brilliant future filled with love, laughter and personal growth.

"Perfect love is rare indeed - for to be a lover will require that you continually have the subtlety of the very wise, the flexibility of the child, the sensitivity of the artist, the understanding of the philosopher, the acceptance of the saint, the tolerance of the scholar and the fortitude of the certain." ---Leo Buscaglia

"There is no friendship, no love, like that of the parent for the child." ---Henry Ward Beecher

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Dreams – Illusive or Attainable?

"If life is a book we write, it should be a book of dreams. And even if they don't all come true, at least the story will still be amazing." ---Eytan Rockaway

During the past several months, I have questioned whether dreams can actually be attained. Life has a way of knocking us on our butts and making us look around and question everything, including our resolve. We find ourselves treading water and just fighting for the next moment, another day, even praying for another week. Wondering will this ever end, will there come a day when all this that has weighed us down; be lifted from our souls?

Two weeks ago, I came upon a sight that made me take pause. Briefly, I was frozen at the majestic spectacle before my eyes. It was five o’clock in the morning and the moon was bright. The sun, while not yet peeking over the mountains to the east, had cast enough light that things could be seen in the darkness. I was at the controls of a train and as I looked to the North while I was holding at a red signal, I witnessed the awesome evidence of dreams. This rail line passes right through the center of town. It passes right through the middle of high-rise buildings on both sides for three city blocks.

The dark buildings, not yet bustling with business or people stood there in the darkness. There was enough light from the moon and soon to raise sun, to show the grandness of these structures. There were a few lights on in the buildings, but many lights were shining on the buildings to show their splendor to the world. It was an amazing sight of new and old architecture coming together. Each structure has an amazing story of how it became what it now is. However, that is just a hint of what these structures stand for and have witnessed.

It began with an empty field and a dream to build a grand structure. Someone somewhere would not let those that would destroy their visions and dreams win the day. They fought through every challenge to build this mighty structure. That is just the beginning of dreams won and lost in such a mighty structure. There were businesses started in space leased. Businesses that failed in another space leased. Many relationships took blossom and flourished when the many people of this structure came together. Many of those relationships may have destroyed other relationships that were already formed. Many people celebrated from a job earned. Many have walked out disheartened from a job lost.

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." ---Oscar Wilde

Through it all, the mighty structures that stand so grand call out to us all. Dreams and the realization of those dreams are not for the faint of heart. It takes something special to realize our dreams. It takes someone special to tread water and find a path from where we are to where we desire to be. There is a local man that turned his drug addiction into an experience to teach and educate others. Meanwhile his extraordinary wife stood by him and they now pursue dreams together. Another man loses his job when his large employer closed down. Then he starts a small business and grows it into a wonderful business employing many.

They stand like kings and invite us all to enter and dream. They show their grand spectacle to all who desire to gaze upon them. They call out to us that the world would be flat and dimensionless if not for the dreams of humans. Like the Lords Mountains, dreamers saw a flat piece of land with weeds and built upon it a massive structure that leaves us breathless. Dreams are not for the faint of heart, but attainable they are for the special person that can overcome.

"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world." ---Harriet Tubman

"The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer." ---Nolan Bushnell

"Wanting something is not enough. You must hunger for it. Your motivation must be absolutely compelling in order to overcome the obstacles that will invariably come your way." ---Les Brown