Greener Over Yonder

How do we ever know what is right for us, and who, and when?

This theme has been forcing its way to the front of many discussions I've had with friends and family of late. It seems many of us are challenged by choices we've made, and choices we've yet to make. Some excite us. Some disappoint us. Some terrify us. All belong to us.

I would characterize it as a struggle to understand the seasons of our lives and how we live out those seasons. I realize that sounds somewhat corny, but, in a sense, as our lives roll along in a direction we think we want them to go, occasionally, things happen along and our paths suddenly seem much less clear. Or the shadow of some event or individual or desire we haven't quite dealt with leaps out of the brush, and we are forced to confront something frightening standing in the path before we can move ahead.

This can be a long process. Time unfortunately does not wait for us to clear the path. But time brings lessons, and self-awareness, and tools for the right action at the right time. It forces us to expand our vision all the while we feel our horizons narrowing.

What, then, of the things we lose over time? We have to mourn but we can't just hand ourselves over to the grieving. There is still a great deal of life to be lived, in a way only we can live it.

There Is A Time

By R. Dillard & M. Jayne/Lansdowne Music-Winston Music, ASCAP
Arrangement: Uncle Earl

There is a time for love and laughter
The days will pass like summer storms
The winter wind will follow after
But there is love and love is warm

There is a time for us to wander
When time is young and so are we
The woods are greener over yonder
The path is new the world is free

There is a time when leaves are fallin'
The woods are gray the paths are old
The snow will come when geese are callin'
You need a fire against the cold

So do your roaming in the springtime
And find your love in the summer sun
The frost will come and bring the harvest
And you can sleep when day is done