Engraved Memories

The bark beetle's larvae create "galleries" in the growth tissue under the bark, known as the cambium.  Each beetle has its own pattern, or signature. As the last hours of the year tick away, may your happy, moving, gratitude-filled experiences be etched in your memories and living tissue so that no amount of time could erase them.  And, may those difficult times, the heartaches, loss, and betrayals be written in the snow, to melt away and be recycled without evidence they ever existed. On the surface, it may seem easy to identify where you would place each event.  Wisdom asks, "Are you sure..." and invites you to go deeper.

At the outset, it seems pretty simple which events we would place in the "engrave" pile and which we would place in the "snow."  Sometimes, the things that seem so sweet and wonderful are actually people using us without us knowing, jobs that are seem good at one level but are draining us at the core of who we are, and relationships are renowned for their ability to create blindness towards the others' actions.

On the other hand, those difficult, trying moments may just be the thing that puts us on track for our great life's purpose.  They may be the things that allow us to correct our course of action, to breathe new life into something...or someone.  To remember what is really important in life. 

So, be careful...take some time to really reflect and seek a higher truth before you place each item, act, or situation.  This is really one of the greatest spiritual acts you can undertake.  With you on the way...