Embracing reality

What is your reality? Is it a state of being from which you feel you must run away? Must you try to avoid what's in front of you or was contained within your past? Do you cover your present circumstances with fake and false dreams, or do you accept and embrace every day, immersing your whole being into what actually going on -- learning to cope rather than play make-believe?

My husband and I participated in another one of our regular fall drives recently, with another couple. Fall is my favorite time of the year. Although, I'm relatively sure that everyone in our group was privy to things of which we would rather forget, we grabbed the opportunity to enjoy the present--the beautiful sights, as we drove along.

I can only speak for myself because one never knows what's genuinely going on inside another, but I choose to not worry because I believe my higher power, God, is in charge. I chose to savor the moment and taste the present reality of beauty that surrounded me.

We drove up and down hills and around curves strewn with the beginnings of fall colors. God's beauty is too awesome to describe. Trees grew over the one-lane roads on which we rode. They bent and bowed to each other as we made our way underneath their branches. As we traveled along, we chose to stop and walk to a beautiful overlook that viewed the Mississippi river. A darling little bridge stretched across the path we were taking. Looking down below was scary, but also a sight to behold. One person, accompanying us, remarked that it felt like we were up in the trees. All our spirits were lifted. If anyone was experiencing a hardship within, it disappeared during that afternoon drive. We, indeed, embraced the reality of what was happening then. Isn't that all we're called upon to do -- to live within the moment? "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. 'Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future" (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Nothing is certain in life, so we must choose and remember to be thankful for the good times and bad.

Living in the moment and embracing what is, is much easier and joy-filled than worrying about what may never happen. It gives me peace to relax into the moment and absorb reality. I allow myself to experience the unknown and feel the wonder of the wind blowing through the trees. We can know and be grateful that we're alive, that we can see and feel what's around us. Our mind and heart can make sense of our lives -- ask from what are we trying to escape? Attempting to run away makes the situation worse. Meeting challenges head-on is the way to solve that problem, of which we're trying so hard to avoid. My mom and dad stressed, to me and my siblings, that if we told a lie, we would always get caught. "Then," they said, "You have to tell another lie to get out of the first one." As we all know, that scenario is absolutely correct

When we avoid the tough things in life, we must eventually deal with them, so why waste the time and energy beforehand, on something you have to deal with, someday? Coping with the reality of any situation is much better than merely saying, "Everything will be OK," and, then, doing nothing to make them better. This method of coping with challenges is dangerous and it keeps us from enjoying what is real now. Regardless of what difficulties we face, we must stay strong and face, particularly, our emotions and insights. Allow them to permeate our bodies so that we feel them, for a time -- then do what we can to solve the challenge. Avoidance is not the answer because every problem has a solution. Embrace the reality of where you are now and rejoice in it.