Wednesday, March 21, 2012

We can make our lives sublime

I could write every night about spring, planting, and things that bloom. When I get spring fever, it seems these things are all I think about. But rather than continue down that path, tonight I'm ripping a chapter out of Jilda's playbook.
I'm using one of my favorite quotes -- actually, it's a verse of a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime
And in passing, leave behind us
Footprints in the sands of time.

I bought a book of poetry off the rack of a used book store some years back. When I got home, I flipped it open to a random page, and this verse was mid-page.
I'm not sure if it was a sign, or what, but the verse stayed with me like a prison tattoo.
I strive to make my life sublime, but I often fall short.
Life gives you a million excuses to be mad at the world, but what good does it do?  I think it makes more sense to try and make the best of what you have to work with.
It's not always sublime, but it's better than the alternative.

11 comments:

  1. Amen. It isn't what we have that matters - it's what we do with what we have. Do a lot, do a little - it's up to us.

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  2. A great thought! Its amazing how simple it could be, if we'd let it.

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  3. Then it's sublime for you. Everything is relative. What may be sublime for someone else doesn't have to be your sublime. You have a home; you have Jilda; you have writing, fishing, gardening. That is sublime. I promise you.

    Love,
    Janie

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  4. Lovely thought. I find the lessons in life we need find us. You were, of course, meant to find that verse.

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  5. Beautiful poem!! You can only live your life as best you can! Take care
    x

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  6. Beautiful thoughts! And a great example of how poetry can help us to stop, re-assess, and appreciate the life we have been given.

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  7. These are great thoughts! Life can be so beautiful if we would just let it.

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  8. Anonymous2:23 PM

    how about if I leave my footprints in mud...there must be lots of my footprints already captured in mud! I find sand footprints rather impermanent, the tides, the wind tend to spirit them away...but now some nice Virginia red clay when baked in the summer sun...makes a mighty fine brick...so a mud footprint it is!

    a lovely poem...to provoke thought about ones life!

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  9. Wnderful thoughts Sir Rick!. Thanks for sharing...

    JJRod'z

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  10. Hello Life 101, I'm Karen's daughter. She said you were wondering what I used for my sepia photos. I edit all my photos with photo shot cs5. I have a few actions I use regularly-one is for black and white and one is sepia. I combine the two, but lower the opacity on the sepia so the photo is mostly black and white with a slight brownish hue from the sepia. I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have :) My email is wtrbaby6@hotmail.com
    Thanks!

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  11. I needed this right now. So many things in the news are making me mad at the world, I needed to be reminded to look for the good.

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