It’s a well known story in history, the one about Charles Francis Adams, the son of John Quincy Adams. Charles kept a daily journal and encouraged his eight-year-old son Brooke to do the same. One day the father Charles and son Brooke went fishing. The day was so amazing that eight-year-old Brooke wrote in his diary:
Went fishing with my father today, the most glorious day of my life.
I have a picture in my mind that looks like a scene from The River Runs Through It: a father and son standing in a cool mountain stream with rods in hand, knowing that it really wasn’t fish that they were after. Glorious indeed. But, thirty years later, the son thought to compare his diary with his father’s and on the same exact day he found the following entry:
Went fishing with my son, a day wasted.
Wasted.
I first read this story in a book called You’re Born an Original by John Mason. It shook me to the core because I wondered how many times I’d thought the same thing about an activity with my daughter, how something so glorious to a child was taken for granted by a consumed, distracted adult.
There are blessings coming to you or past you every day. Never be so stuck that you can’t afford to pay attention. Availability is the greatest ability you have. […] We typically see things not as they are but as we are. Too often our minds are locked on one track. We’re looking for red so we overlook blue; we’re thinking about tomorrow, but God’s saying now; we’re looking everywhere when the answer is under our nose. -John Mason
Availability is the greatest ability.
Wow.
I so often think I’m available, but really my mind is wandering around in the margins of life.
I have work to do.
Things I love:
1. You’re Born an Original by John Mason. Love how straight to the point this book is: fifty two nuggets of truth to help stir up your unique gifts.
2. Life is a Verb by Patti Digh. A wonderful, art-filled book full of stories that illustrate six-core practices for living without regrets: Say Yes, Be Generous, Speak Up, Love More, Trust Yourself, and Slow Down.
The Year of Joy Recap:
Day 1: The Year of Joy: You are deserving of joy. Many times we confuse joy with happiness. They are two separate things. Happiness comes from circumstances, but joy is an attitude that defies circumstances.
Day 2: A Bigger Target: Focus changes everything. Our goal in life should be to be much, not to have much.
Day 3: Make Room for Joy: Quit Something Every Thursday: So how do we become deep people? Don’t let time fillers dilute your life, intrude and thin out your joy.
Thank for your post. I get so much from it. Really makes think how we to connect
Sorry need to connect to people not our electronics
Thank you Ashley….I know people thank you all the time but if I could drive to your house and hug you (not in a creepy Internet stalker way) I would. I used to cling to the cancer chronicles because they were so real so from the heart (I could relate) today before I got out of before leaned over for my dusty old journal that I have not written in since the day my daughter died and I flipped on my iPad as if you were a friend holding my hand. I am more then thankful for these post and the strength they are giving me. I wish I had more words to express it.
I am coming back to writing this year…today…this moment, instead of just here and there and when I feel really chaotic.
I’m going to allow writing to be an extension of my experiences, and the catalyst for this decision has been your thoughts on writing…writing frequently and unabashedly…and just…all the time.
I plopped into 2014 flat and dull and really really tired – and in the span of 5 days God has brought me a number of things to get me back on track. The year of joy is one of those things. True story.
Oh! I took the bus last week for the first time in about 9 years. I’m 28 and I had SO much fun. Thinking it’s time to go for an adventure on the bus with my 2yr old.
Thank you so much for this post, I can’t even tell you how much I needed to read this tonight.