Blog 202 – 01.07.2016

It was my dear departed daughter’s custom to send me each year on Father’s Day a mixed CD with a variety of songs that she picked out especially for me. The gift of music is a gift that keeps on giving and it was uncanny how the songs Emily picked for me touched me so deeply.

One such song is I’m Yours song by Jason Mraz. It is a modern song and is so fast I had to play it over and over to memorize the words so I could sing it Karaoke. But, oh what words. I quote the chorus:

“Open up your eyes and see like me,
Open up your plans and damn your free
Look into your heart and you’ll find
Love, love, love, love.”

I know like Rhett Butler’s line to Scarlett in the book and movie Gone With The Wind, “Frankly, my Dear, I don’t give a damn.” the word “damn” is offense to many of my religion/superstitious friends who believe in curses and such but that is a box I escaped long ago and am determined to never climb back into again. God, the World, the Universe is way too big to fit into our narrow often self-limiting beliefs.

The young man is pleading with us not to keep our eyes closed nor our plans. I was already middle aged, that is passed fifty in my book as I plan to hang out here till at least a hundred. My dad said that to my son and left this world that very evening but I am not superstitious or even very religious for that matter. Those words are used synonymously in the book of Acts, by the way, by the Apostle Paul regarding the people in Athens.Both words mean believing in and following a particular and narrow set of rules and observances like going to church ever Sunday or whistling in the dark. Both equally powerless to making you happy or for keeping an imaginary boogey man away. Yes, these are the things my friend warned me I could get my throat cut for saying. Jesus was sentenced to death by the Jewish High Priest for saying “I am” (which is God’s name) when asks straight out, “Are you the son of God.” Call me crazy but I think that I and every one of Adam’s children could answer “I am.” to that question. What I started to say was that I was middle aged when I first heard a younger person say, “Free your mind and the rest will follow.” Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” The truth is not a creed, nor a set of narrow rules and regulations, but it is the knowledge of Who you truly are and to Whom you truly belong.

Open up your eyes and see Who and Whose you truly are. Open up your plans to the things that would truly set you free to look into your heart and find Love, Love, Love, Love. Another name for You Know Who. My eyes, my plans, and my throat are open to Everything the Universe has for me. How about you?

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White