Someone Once Said

 

Someone once said that the past is written.  It’s done.  You can’t fix it or change it.  But the future is a blank page.  It isn’t written yet.  So get busy living.

I like that.  Even as a Christian, I know what happens at the end of the story, but I don’t know what happens in the middle.  That’s the tough part.  Even as a writer, I can come up with awesome beginnings and exciting endings, but the middle part?  Well, that’s not always easy.  Beginnings are great.  Everything is fresh and clean and new.  Even if its not, you at least know you have the ending where everyone lives happily ever after…Right??

It’s all the “living” that goes on in the middle that is filled with ups, down, in’s and outs, good and bad, hope and discouragement, joy and heartbreak, good choices and bad ones, loves and losses, great success and horrific downward spirals… and the list goes on and on.

That’s the middle.  Doesn’t sound too glamorous does it?  Truth is, the middle is the biggest chunk of our lives.  The honeymoon faze doesn’t last forever, right?  No matter how great of a relationship you have.  Eventually it gets down to the daily grind; the nitty-gritty and the sometimes ho-hums of daily living.  The amazing job that you worked so hard to get, always starts off with excitement and challenge.  The new office; the brand new equipment; the pay raise and better benefits.  Then a few months in, they ask you to work late.  Then they want you to come in early, and pretty soon, you’re missing meals with your family and the kids are already in bed asleep by the time you get home, and you are already gone when they wake up.  You see where this is going.  And, I’m not saying that this means there is a bad ending; I’m just saying that this is the middle of life!  The hard stuff.

So here’s to all of the great authors out their who write great beginnings, real middles and wrap it up with a satisfying ending.

Someone once called it, “the middle C of life.”  There are so many notes above and below that middle C, which makes the song a thing of beauty.  For all of those that feel like they are playing that one note all day long, let me tell you, don’t be afraid to extend yourself and play the other notes.  Those keys that you used to tinker with in the early part of your story?  It’s ok to play them now.  Just make the song a little different.  Add a few trills and runs; go ahead and play the song in adagio (slow and restful) or allegro (fast and lively).  Add the drums, change keys, slip in the flute or french horn, change the beat all together…

My point?  Don’t be afraid or bored of the middle part of life.  Don’t get so caught up in someone else’s story that you lose your own.

Don’t let your tragic flaw be your inability to change.  Remember, the only time machine we have in this life is the one we’re born in, and it only goes forward.  No one loves a great “time travel” story than me, but I also know that is just science fiction.  Great fiction, but fiction non-the-less.

The great Marcus Aurelius  (The philosopher king) said, “The universe is change.  Our life is what our thoughts make it.”

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death…”

Words have an incredible impact.  Particularly in those people that you have a connection with.  The closer you are to someone, the bigger the impact their words have.  A husband can destroy his wife’s confidence with just words, and a mother can build courage and bravery in her children with just her words.  That places a great deal of responsibility on our individual shoulders.  Watch what you say.  The tongue is small, but it can bring good or evil to someone else’s world.

In closing…

Someone once asked the following:  “Do you ever wonder why God gave us one mouth and two ears?”

Just thinking out loud,

P. Torres