“At what point will I be content?” my dearest friend asked.
We talked about dreams and plans and fate and dumb luck, all the while wondering when each of us would be able to say, “this is where I want to be.”
Maybe we’re reaching for something we’ll never achieve. Maybe we’re never meant to be totally content. Maybe it’s that unsettled feeling which keeps us striving each day; maybe that’s what makes us get out of bed each morning and do it all one more time, a little better than the day before.
Maybe.
Or, maybe, contentment comes from making the most of where we are that day, each day. Maybe that peace we’re looking for is what we feel each night before we drift to sleep when we realize we lived the day the best we could. It may bet have been great, may not have even been good, but it was our best effort.
Maybe.
Or, Maybe, if we’re lucky, there will be a point where everything lines up; where good is good and always good and always right there at your side.
I hope.
A firefighter from the Champaign, Illinois area spoke at the state 4-H awards ceremony and said it much better than I could.
“We are all moving toward that one moment in time where you’re more than you though you could ever be.”
That’s what I want. I want to be more than I thought I could ever be and (more importantly) recognize the moment when I get there.
I want more contentment than I ever thought I would have.
I want more I want to love more than I ever thought I could and be loved more than I ever dreamed possible.
I want more laughter than tears.
I want comfort without extravagance.
I want more friendships than one lifetime can fill.
In “The Bridges of Madison County,” Clint Eastwood turned to the woman he loved and said, “It just seems like everything I’ve done up to this point in my life has led me here.” That was his “one moment.”
I wait for that one moment in time when I say “here is where I wanted to be; here is where I was meant to be; here is where I feel content; here is the place where all the twists of my life have taken me . . . and it is a good place to be.”
