And it's time for my first distraction!!!!!
Maybe it's the way every language sounds different and beautiful, with
its own quirks and personality. That strange way language gives both character
to the speaker, but also plays a character all by itself. Perhaps as a
lover of stories, I can't help but wonder what strange and wonderful tales lie
obscured by cultural veils and foreign tongue? Could it even be that,
like every young man, I dream of adventure and freedom? That foreign language
hints softly at childhood fantasies; icy air around mountaintop castles,
endless plains of quivering gold, a bazaar's affronting cacophony and the
cleansing smell of salt. One thing is certain.... there is something
about accents, languages and the way different people express themselves that
just fascinates me! Most recently it has been rekindled by finding
several resources devoted to words which don't have a translation into English.
I hope to post about many of these words in the future but for the moment one
word in particular caught my attention and gave me something to think about.
One of the potential names for this blog was 'A life lived with Meraki', the
last word in the title being a Greek word from the resource I mentioned before.
Now whilst I am certainly not Greek (and I don't speak Greek), the translations
that I have seen of 'Meraki' say that it means to input effort, passion,
creativity, love or 'something of yourself' into whatever you are doing.
One would have hoped that English already had a word that expressed such an
important quality, but alas we appear to be lacking! Regardless though, the
idea of this word really made me smile, and straight away I thought of what it
might look like to not just do individual tasks 'With Meraki' (or however it
would be said) but to live ones entire life with passion, love and creativity.
To live in a way where you don't simply 'live', but you leave pieces of
yourself everywhere you go and in everything you do, because not giving of
yourself would be a waste. I cannot claim to have lived, or to be living this life yet, however the idea of such an
extraordinary life is a very appealing one. To take it one step further though,
I for one firmly believe that this type of life is actually the one expected of
us by God. Of course one does not have to be a Christian or even a theist to
acknowledge the amazing opportunity that we have with Life, but as a Christian,
I am most compelled and enthused by God's opinion of what should or shouldn’t
be happening in my life.
But therein lays the problem. What does 'A life lived with
Meraki' look like? How is it achieved? Short answer is, "I'm not
sure", but after very little thought I can think of three things in my
life which could and probably should be changed. Perhaps I will post others some time later, but for the moment, these stick out.
1. Saying No: It seems a strange one to start off with, but over the last year
or so I have really noticed how much quality can be poorly affected by
quantity. Not to say that doing lots of stuff is necessarily bad, just that I
am the type of person to say yes to far too many things and subsequently do
none of them well. So from now on, I will endeavour to say No more often. After
all, the most delicious cakes don't use every ingredient in the kitchen!
2. Being purposeful: I have always been the type of person who dislikes goal
setting/reflections/diaries and calendars. I prefer spontaneity and
improvising, however this is slowly proving to be incompatible with the world
around me. Furthermore, I am finding that my tolerance for chaos is much lower
than originally thought. Instead of inspiring and exciting me, it leaves me
overwhelmed and bewildered. So from now on, I will endeavour to have a plan. I
will not be bound to that plan, nor will the plan be unchangeable if
circumstances change, but I will try to paddle rather than simply be dragged
along by the ebbs and eddies of life.
3. Being more heavenly minded: Perhaps I’m trying to sum up too much in the
one point, but I will try regardless. By far the most powerful tool I have for
encouragement, is my ability to look to the future and know that God is in
control and that even after I have died (in fact, especially after I have died)
I will have the security that I am being cared for and loved. Over the last
several months in particular, I have not been joyful about life anywhere near
as much as I should have. I haven’t been appreciative of the many blessings I
have been given, and I most certainly have not been encouraging myself to get
past the minor discomforts I have in my life and ensure that I am making the
best us of my time here. So…. I will endeavour to read my Bible more, pray more
and in turn, hopefully be more joyful rather than simply happy (a discernment I
might flesh out some time later).
There is so much more that I could say, and so many more aspects of it that I
think would be really interesting, but for the moment I shall exit cyberspace
and perhaps even try to make a few of the aforementioned changes before I get
distracted again. Not only that, but with the amount of promises of future
posts I have made…. I really need to start writing! What have I done???
My very best wishes to everyone who desires to live their life with Meraki.
Until next we meet, Happy Dreaming and God bless
Lachy
