What inspires us to turn the
page, round the bend or seek the next rise in the road?
Perhaps it’s our individual
histories – our experience from previous pages, twists and bends and summits. Something rewarded us, so we look
forward to the next something.
o0o
Humankind has been
celebrating mid-winter holidays, I surmise, since the time we feared the
mid-day sun was shrinking into the southern horizon. The nights grew long, the days cold. Would it ever return north? We hoped we’d packed in enough
provision to see us through whatever was to happen.
Our revelry buoyed us against
the cold and darkness. We prayed
that the sun would return and it did.
Over the course of history,
somewhere early on, we realized that spring followed the darkness and with the
spring would come the warmth of sunnier days and some sort of rebirth. Plenty would follow.
Fast forward a million and a
half years or so: We no longer scrabble for food – well, most of us don’t – but
we do battle the winter blues.
Combating those, we throw up a tree, spangle it with lights, roast a
turkey or a ham, and share gifts and kisses. Soon, we find ourselves reflecting about the year gone by
and anticipating the one upcoming.
o0o
Collectively and
individually, our innate desire is to explore some next chapter. We seek to unravel the mystery around some
next bend. We want to conquer some
next summit that we’re sure will steal our breath. And we know we’ll be welcomed back to the hearth when we
return.
So one year closes and
another opens with inspiration – perhaps a humans- only emotion. Moving forward, we trust that our
travels will be rewarded with wonder, bounty and love. Maybe that’s why we keep turning pages.
© 2014
Church of the Open Road Pres
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