Once In a Lifetime

Gandalf: Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them…? Do not be to eager to deal in death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends.

What do we do when misfortune enters our life?

We have our way of thinking, desiring, planning

But what do we do when our thoughts, desires and plans are unexpectedly bombarded by a force we cannot control?

In our delusional thinking and illusion of reality we think we have everything figured out and under control. Until…

What do we do when life brings us a situation that clearly reveals how powerless we actually are? What do we do when we have to remember the “good times” because we have been so caught in an emotional storm that sorrow and depression begin to look like friends?

Who do I choose to be? What’s the highest vision I hold of myself? Will I allow these painful circumstances to make me out to be something or someone less than I would ultimately choose to be? Where is my soul? Where is my passion? Where is my strength?

Regardless of how painful that choice may seem presently, the reward of integrity will far outweigh any suffering I can imagine. This is the nature of courage. This is the nature of knowing my self in the face of whether you accept me or not. This is the nature of love, when systematic problems of survival or “happiness” bring up visions of fear but you realize connection and passion are more real than comfortable dreams.

What if the person I really want to be is being presented with the opportunity to arise through this exact situation? Where else will this champion come from except the dust and ashes of a near defeat?

What if this is my one chance to to become who I truly am, to show my true quality? How will I know? Isn’t that why I need to take the opportunity? I think I’d rather say, “I tried.” Of course I want to say, “I tried and succeeded!” But how can I say that if I don’t first try?

Arise, my soul! Don’t fear.

Accept you powerlessness to do anything but rise again.

Love deeply. Laugh loudly. Dance hard. Be thankful for the moment. Marinate in the feeling of the now.

When the unexpected, unknown and unknowable come onto your path.

Greet it. “I knew you’d show up eventually.”

Ask yourself, “What is this going to require of me?” Expect sacrifice.

Armor up and do what it takes, seeking to please no one but to honor your highest principle and highest love. You know comfort and ease has nothing to do with that.

Like a solider, your best is the thing that may require your very life. Don’t be fooled by this world’s glossy magazines and force-fed ideas of a “good life”. Don’t be fooled. You will still have no control, even, then and there. Their and these ideas of happiness and ease are not maintained or sustained by you. You’re no god! Though, you can pray with hope.

Look at this storm! Did you make it? You dare delude yourself into thinking you can stop it? Wise up. All you can do is rise up. Rise stronger and by that choice see the storm die down.

All is not lost. All is not lost. Become who you are. It happens once in a lifetime.

Frodo: I wish [this] had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world… and that is an encouraging thought.