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So many
things I have taken for granted. "The Merriam-Webster
Dictionary" definition: 2: something granted; esp: a gift
for a particular purpose. I looked that up this evening. It
is the first time I've ever wondered what the meaning of
that word "granted" in the term "take for granted" meant.
I looked it up in "Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged
Dictionary of the English Language" and found a more
in-depth definition: 6. take for granted, a. to accept
without question or objection; assume. b. to use, accept, or
treat in a careless or indifferent manner.
Boy, that second set of definitions about said it all for
me. Defined my attitude to a tee. It has always been easy to
live that way--accepting without questions, assume, accept
in a careless or indifferent manner.
It has not been that extreme for me throughout the years. I
have always appreciated and treasured any time spent in the
mountains, moments when critters of all kind shared part of
their lives with me, the holidays, grandma and grandpa,
books.
I learned that certain things I had assumed would always be
a part of my life could be taken away. The love of a father
and grandfather, through disease. The presence of a devoted,
accepting, loving pet by old age. The dedication and
companionship of a friend, by an auto accident.
Yet, from the blindness of youth I failed to see that, as
the years passed, my skin was losing the supple glow of the
young. My eyes, the vision that allowed me to read things
that my parents could not. The agility and limberness that
allowed me to play and fall. That made it possible for me to
bang into and bounce off of furniture and walls and the hard
ground and only cry about it if someone witnessed my
clumsiness.
I lost that childlike vision that opened the world to the
joy of giggles, the wonder of a baby bird, the excitement of
my first trip to Disneyland, and the delight in anticipating the arrival of Santa. It was my
heart's sight that allowed me to observe the world around me
with an open mind, and the people in my sphere of existence
as people I could trust--I never knew a stranger.
Somewhere between childhood naivety and the assumed maturity
of young adulthood, I shed the ability to recall the
miraculous, to trust, and to accept. As a person of "age" I
began to take for granted, more and more, important things
in life. Mortality, on a personal level, would not affect
me. Disease was a destiny for others, but not in my world.
Getting older... Getting gray... Getting rickety did not
apply to me. Stairs and mountainsides, sand dunes and
carnival rides would never seem insurmountable to me. My
legs would not give out. My stamina would be forever
youthful. I could always ride the tummy-tossing
roller-coasters and whirling dervishes and never get sick.
The sun was my friend, the snow my playmate, and never would
I have thought to fear them. The summer breeze at sunset
would bring with it the scent of fresh-washed gingham, Breck
shampoo in still-damp hair, and an air of romance--those
magical moments would be mine, forever.
But forever suddenly becomes yesterday. And time hurtles on.
The more complicated life and the world becomes . . . the
more simpler experiences and moments give me the most
pleasure. Regaining my childlike wonderment gives my older
eyes renewed vision. The best sight, really. A melding of
past and present, shapes my vision of the future. I have
three angles to see through and the clarity has never been
better.
It is all a gift, for a particular purpose, as the
dictionary defined.
Thank you Lord for knocking me low enough that I could see
everything, when looking up.
Copyright 2005 by
Kathy Anne Harris
kathap@angelrays.biz |
