THE NAME OF THE GAME

This was a little exercise that I started as a kid. I didn't have a name for it, but it could be played anywhere. Sometimes I played it in school, sometimes in church. It was an interesting distraction but honestly, it didn't take much to drift off in those days. Still doesn't. It was best played laying out under the stars at night. It went something like this. You start by imagining you are rising up and looking back to where you had just been then you continue to rise higher and higher. It wasn't long before I was well over the rooftop of my house and going higher until I could see the houses and farms that were around the lake area where I lived. After drifting even higher a nearby town came in view then several towns before I was high enough to see most of the county. 

It wasn't long before I had all of North Central Pennsylvania in sight. At first this was about as far as I could get. But with time, practice, TV, movies and further education, I was able to get higher and higher before everything was out of focus. Getting to the moon was great fun but I wanted to go farther. I was able to add more detail, color and clarity, but I was still limited in that I couldn't get much beyond Mars. Yet that had to be quite an accomplishment for someone who otherwise was an underachiever.

Somewhere along the way, I came across the popular Shakespeare quote:

I didn't think much about it at the time but the "more things in heaven" continually came up. And my exploring the universe became easier until I could make the journey without missing that much along the way. The only time I had any problem was when I ran into some Klingons. 

I more recently discovered a quote that was close to what I had been realizing in my own life.

 

This confirmed my thoughts on why I didn't fit into situations when I had to be a certain way. It took far too long for me to see and have confidence in seeing and knowing the world, and the cosmos, my way. 

As an adult I didn't play the game as much, but I did have a great appreciation for all the photos of and information about the cosmos that came my way. Unless its all a conspiracy of some kind. I had an idea that it was really big but not quite to the extent presently known.

The ever expanding cosmos assures more journeys. This time, starting from an old prairie pig farm. And though it still can be a great distraction, the game has paralleled another journey that has made it far more purposeful. I've come to accept that things work a little different for me and for others like me.

Writing countless papers in seminary did less for me than just hearing the "Hallelujah Chorus" one time. I pursued a lot of directions that just didn't fit, I wasn't built that way. No, this is not a coming out post. Although many family and friends have thought I was at least half gay. I might have to own up to some of that. But now, it seems rather anti-climatic. I was just taking a journey that went farther and farther away until it rested in what had been there all along.

Author unknown

Regardless of how any of us are built, I'd liked to think there's so much more in heaven and on the earth to continually draw us farther along and have the courage to drop the old things that didn't work and pick up the new things that bring a more complete understanding. For in truth, I really do believe that's the name of the game.