Acquaintances

The skies will open but at the moment, there is grey. The temperature is 65 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Thursday.

There are times when we find ourselves in a place where the process of revisiting the future is accomplished by looking at our past, yet we forget how to do this. In fact, this is probably what happens quite regularly, except that we who live in the "modern" times, too often discount that past, present, and future is one. We forget that there was once a time when acquaintances were no different than friends, really. Sometimes, we don't need friends to be with us when trouble arrives; instead, we really need an acquaintance - one who, like clouds in the sky, arrive in a moment with an offering of space and time that friends sometimes simply do not have. Their presence is very real, but fleeting. In the moment their presence fills gaps in a way that is essential for each of us to bridge what is happening in life, to relieve our relatives and friends from the burden of our selves, to create an opportunity for a different kind of relationship to blossom. Acquaintances might one day transform into friends.

They say that in the old days, an acquaintance might be one who offered shelter, directions to a new place unknown to the traveler, a helpful hint about where to go to find food while visiting an unfamiliar village. Their appearance would be at just the right time and their departure also at just the right time - they could be thought about as ephemeral encounters.

Today, we live in a moment where the number of acquaintances we have seem to be disappearing. We have our cell phones for directions, information, ways to engage in new places. So connecting with another human being that is not family or friend - is unnecessary and sometimes even dangerous (so some say). You don't "really" know who that person may be - perhaps they are wonderful human beings, but maybe not! Safer to use our cell phones and not delve too deeply into the possible future that could include an acquaintance becoming a friend.

For those "risk" takers, who are actually open to the possibility that an acquaintance could open doors that lead to new horizons - there are many possible futures. True, that some futures could be disappointing. Yet, you have to ask yourself whether that is enough to make you unavailable to another way of being in the world. As risky as it may seem, allowing for the possibility that an acquaintance, with a little nurturing of curiosity, a bit of real-time encounters (not text or email), and a bit of intuition to be engaged - could create a path that needs to open so that the experience of renewal and potential can arrive in your life.

True renewal and potential are only words that too often go un-lived. We talk about "lived experiences" - but how many of those are put upon you, versus chosen by you? To have acquaintances is to have the potentiality of futures that may need, or want to open your life - it's an idea to throw into your basket of thoughts.