Sunday, July 26, 2009

Hardy Habitation 7/26/09

Storms make oaks take deeper root.

George Herbert
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I'm here. Come on in.
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My old cat William always wanted to sleep on my feet when I went to bed. I'm an athletic sleeper. I know that because every morning, when I wake up, the sheets and blankets are in a twist and a tangle. I noticed that while I was tossing around trying to get to sleep William would just dig in, wait patiently for all my flipping and flopping to finish and then settle back down. He never got up and moved somewhere else because, for some inscrutable feline reason, my feet was where he wanted to be and that was that. When I awoke in the morning there he was stretching out his front paws and looking at me to be sure I was awake and ready to dish up some cat food.

Tumults aplenty are available in this world to us mere humans. We are rained on by inconveniences and bad luck, we are blown around by opinions and influences, we suffer the lightening flashes and rolling thunder of unexpected troubles and then we are hit by the ice, snow and freezing temperatures of pain and fear. What do we do?

Reason is a good answer, thinking things through for ourselves, weighing all the facts, challenging all the doubts and arriving at conclusions we can believe and have faith in. It is a great and healthy thing to have confidence in your own intelligence. I have had my thinking challenged on many occasions and when I saw that I was wrong about something, I willingly changed my mind. But when I know a thing to be true I, like William, dig in and refuse to be talked out of it. And another thing about challenges is that if you are right and stand firm for what you know is right your grasp on it becomes even stronger, like the mighty oak tree.

Provide yourself with a place for your roots, then dig in and wait for the storm to pass. When it does you will still be standing tall.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Try something new this week.
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6 comments:

Joann said...

I FINALLY GOT ONE ON TIME before you posted the answer!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!! LOL!!!

Ken Riches said...

Some people ride out the storm and wait for clear sailing again, while others seem to thrive only when in the midst of bad weather. I prefer to get through it to sunny skies :o)

Janice said...

Looks like the author of the quote starts with the letters No...no way can I figure it out. Never could get this kind of puzzle.
I have seen more than my share of storms and prefer to sail to sunny skies.

Inday said...

Good on you DB! I think I am now a mighty OAK! Undeterred by challenges always trying to do the right thing and correct if it is wrong.

I like your analogy or do writers always call it metaphor or figure of speech? I can see humour between the lines beneath the twisted sheets.

salemslot9 said...

kitty...
aw

Judith Ellis said...

Thoughtful post as always, DB. I do not always have confidence in my own intelligence. I sometimes think that such confidence is overrated.