The Bigger Life

I am learning that not everything that gets my attention deserves to keep it.

Some things happen that are difficult to put down. A conversation. A disappointment. Something left unresolved. Something someone did—or failed to do. Before long, I can find myself carrying that one thing into places where it was never invited.

I wake up thinking about it.

I revisit it while doing something else.

I give it another conversation in my head.

And meanwhile, life is happening.

Real life.

There are people in front of me who deserve my presence. There is work that still carries purpose. There are reasons to laugh, things to create, people to encourage, and moments I will never get another opportunity to experience.

That is the bigger life.

I am beginning to understand that something can be important without becoming the center of my existence. I can care deeply about an issue and still put it down. I can disagree with someone and continue with my day. I can be disappointed without allowing disappointment to decide what kind of day I am going to have.

Some things require action.

Some require patience.

And some simply require me to stop giving them more of myself than they deserve.

The harder question for me has become: What am I missing while I am paying attention to this?

Because my Creator did not give me this life to spend it endlessly replaying every offense, difficulty, or unresolved situation that crosses my path.

There is still something I have been asked to do.

There are still lives I am supposed to touch.

There is still today.

So I am learning to deal with what needs to be dealt with, then lift my eyes again.

Not because what happened did not matter.

But because it is not all that matters.

My life is bigger than the thing demanding my attention right now.

And I don't want to become so occupied with what happened that I miss what I am still here to do.

Blessings, Elfen