Zest for Life - Don't Lose Yours

It's better with this music?

Owl City - Fireflies download at emp3

John Eldredge writes some inspirational type books having to do with the way we approach life.  I remember this book because in it he challenged some long held sayings in the church where I attend about the heart.  I'd always heard it was wicked and that we couldn't trust our emotions, well, John challenged that presumption with this book, in a way that made me realize that what we as people have is precious, and that is our ability to work with and get along with each other; it's how our lives and
the lives of others get better.

What happens then to our lives that
we stop being loving and caring?  My
friend says that we go through a lot
of stuff that doesn't work out good, and
we aren't happy about how things work
out, and we can't always control how
they work out.  What I've been taught
of late is that we might not be able
to control circumstances, but we can
choose to be in charge of how we feel
about those circumstances?  This is
what Eldredge is such a master at
portraying. 


But the zest for life, that must come from
yet another source.  I remember the smile
in the eyes of my wife as we first met,
the joy of our first date, the great joy of
our first kiss, and where we were, that
glint in her eye was joy, it is a prime
component in zest.


When we climbed mountain to have
a lunch like no other in the little
villa at the top of the peak, the view
like no other. Riding to the top of
Pike's peak, eating one of those
doughnuts.  The quiet in the room
after our daughter was born, the
challenge that would lay ahead,
all, unprepared for; how do you
prepare to climb to the top of a
mountain for lunch, or, know your
going to enjoy a mile higher doughnut,
or be quiet after a child's birth?
But in those moments is also a
great component of zest.

I remember the art gallery kept open
by contributions and grants, how the
beauty and magnificence of the old
pieces there are so different from the
modern made to commercial stuff.
The tour of the gardens, botanical
gardens they are called, and how the
plants and heat all seem to add something
to the experience, something that you
can't quite put your finger on, but you
know it's not what you normally do?
What you normally feel?  Something
in that moment is a component of
the zest for life.

We have parts of our lives that make
up a life that has zest in it, I never
make the same spaghetti twice, my family
can tell you, spaghetti in our home, when
dad makes it, is an event, because we
all hope I'll get the ingredients right; and
"this spaghetti," is always the best, better
than the last, and tastes, better, richer,
somehow?  Now you and I know good
and well, that can't be, it's just tomatoe
sauce, and other spices, but it's the family
being there, and the history of the making
of something so simple, but if you take
one of the components out of that, it
won't be the same spaghetti, and I
guaranty you, it won't be as good.