Time

When time is reduced to linear progress, it is emptied of presence.”

― John O'Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

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What is the sum of our days?

As we plod on

In this linear life

Going merely from one damn thing to another

First growing up

Having an entire town

Plan out your life

(well of course you are going to be a doctor)

Then more of the normal thing

College (go Blues! AKA Missionaries)

Marriage

More school

Life as a minister

Going up the ladder

Small church, medium church, large church

Yahoo!  Lake Oswego

But in all the progress

Regress

A loss of self

Just progressing, not living

Then crash!

A disaster of my own making

Then start again

Disaster relief

Teaching at a medical school

Executive Director of a mental health program

On, on, on

Progressing forward

But most of life has had one dimension

A line ____________________________

Yes so much happened

So much life, so much death

So much success, so much failure

So many jobs

But just progressing from one thing to another is not enough

Life should be two-dimensional

Three dimensional

The plodding line cannot define

There must be soul bursts

And heart breaks

There must be

Connections that add lines to our lives

Children, lovers, family

Sacred

Above all sacred

Which makes the line not a line

but something much

much

more