Invitations

Today is a clear, warming day. This too, will change, but the morning was relatively warm at 58 degrees fahrenheit. Today is Sunday.

It is easy to forget that a simple shift can turn almost anything you do into an invitation. The invitation can come in connection with conversations, with personal habits, and even with household repairs. Each time, you can take up the encounter as though the unspoken question is, "What am I being called to bring forward in this moment?"

The answer might be to show that you have capacity to see the world or issue from more than your own self-centered point of view. Or the answer might be in realizing that some habit is actually self-defeating and the invitation is to see if you are aware of this. In a situation where the circumstances are mundane - like struggling with a confounding household repair, you might accept the invitation to get creative and conclude, "I am smarter than this piece of wood."

Living life fully, encountering all people and conditions as invitations to tap into your own capacities is one way a person can feel satisfaction and avoid feeling that, "Life is passing me by." Even sitting still and not moving around much opens so many opportunities to see an invitation to go deeper into one's own set of life-living tools. Am I here because this is what I want? Am I here because the conditions I face stand in the way of moving into the world? Am I here to take care of a task that is more important than moving from this spot? So many more ways to consider being still. In the end, the question becomes, "Am I here?"

Now that last question is a really interesting invitation. It can be used as a doorway to the questions that many people, organizations, programs, expert scholars, poets, writers, and others who are curious about the meaning of life dedicate themselves to in seeking spiritual understanding. "Am I here?

Who is "I"? Or, "Who am I?" - a very deep question in itself.

Where is "here"? Or, "How does space/time work?" - another very deep question.

These are, in fact, huge invitations that can take people on very long journeys into what may previously have been unknown, unconscious, or underappreciated. And it seems that the urgency for answers increase as people age. Some who are fortunate started early in life, recognizing that these invitations are precious - and accepting them requires moving out of their comfort zone, perhaps sacrificing some opportunity, or disappointing people who had their own hopes to fulfill in your life choices.

At youth, the many invitations are missed because the purpose of life seems so clear - Survive. And if you are lucky, you might thrive. Once life settles, there may be moments of leisure where these invitations come along and a person might catch a glimpse - usually in the middle of repetitious or slow-going tasks that have to be done - during floor scrubbing, toilet cleaning, weeding/gardening, or maybe in exercising. With age, things slow down - whether the will wishes this or not.

If one lives longer, thoughts return to, "Who Am I, anyway?"

At that point, the invitations, many of which were declined earlier, might be accepted. The answer is the same for all of us.