As I have wandered westward through the landscapes of my life, I have found bread crumbs of insight to guide me on my journey. Some have simply appeared in my path, others I have searched for; some have been intended (or unintended gifts) from fellow travelers and some have fallen from my own slices of life.
They have led me through bright meadows and murky, dismal swamps, through sunny woodlands and dense, scary forests, up hills – even a mountain or two - into verdant valleys and dark canyon mazes. Sometimes bread crumbs were plentiful – other times few and far between, but always they comforted and nurtured hope – even when the insight was painful. While I am sure I have skipped merrily past quite a few, often I have found one as I pushed myself up from a face-plant in the mud.
Now that I rate “senior discounts” and have more time to reflect on my journey, I’m prompted to notice the eschatology bread crumbs in particular. Clearly I am approaching the mystery of mysteries that lies somewhere ahead in the golden light of my setting sun. I am in no hurry to get there but as I own my membership in the ranks of elders, attend more funerals, and have more time to reflect on those bread crumbs, I find that they provide bits of encouragement to proceed in good spirits with faith and even confidence.
But the thing about bread crumbs, is if you don't pick them up, the birds eat them. I want to preserve them and share them, appreciate and celebrate them. They have given hints about the adventures of aging, dying and what might lie beyond "the end of life as we know it."
As I offer mine, I invite you to share any bread crumbs you have found along your way.
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| Kane`ohe Bay Sunrise |
Bread Crumbs by Abby Freeborn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Comments may be addressed to randmxcentric@gmail.com
