… “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
2022 has been another tumultuous year for most of us. I will have other thoughts on the year upon reflection. However, as the eve winds down, and as we are given to considering everything that has taken place, a revisit to the spiritual core of our association is appropriate.
For me, this year provided many memorable gifts; almost all driven by a purposeful God reminding me of my selfish insignificance. This year I watched the physical landscape where my youth unfolded, forever changed; much of it erased completely.
The trees which once held the swings and forts for youthful triumphs, felled by nature’s fury and soon thereafter turned to mulch. Their trunks and branches likely to landscape a coming McMansion for a person with no similar attachment. And so it goes…. And so, it goes. An apropos metaphor for life, and a not subtle reminder that we are temporarily living it.
If my younger self had known a clock was counting down, perhaps the kid would have paused under the shade of the old banyans and thanked them. Then again, it really wouldn’t be childhood if we carried such weighty concerns. I am forever thankful I never carried that weight, and simultaneously today I cherish each breeze with a newfound appreciation for what I did not know.
Perhaps we have new challenges, perhaps our center is askew, perhaps our faith holds a new perspective, or perhaps our exhaustion weighs heavy as we rush turning to the next chapter…. hoping, praying for a better tomorrow.
It is easy to lose our sense of optimism. Retaining a joyful perspective while everything around us seems mad isn’t easy. However, if you accept that you can create something just a little bit better by making a choice, then you have accomplished a great deal.
Regardless of what tomorrow brings, we always have choices. A new year’s perspective:
I have long felt that life is like a series of links in a chain. You might be driving down the road and you hear a song on the radio, or see a picture, and you feel a memory….
Something triggers within you that reminds of a different time and place than where you are right now.
You reflect.
The memories you consider remind you of a totally different time in your life.
Perhaps you lived in a different place. Perhaps you were surrounded by different people. Perhaps a different job or completely different friends. You recognize those memories were constructed like frozen moments in time. They became individual links in the chain in your life.
We never actually realize, in the immediate moment, when one link closes and another link begins. But when we look back, we can clearly see distinct points where things changed, the link closed, and a new link began.
You see, the links are only visible in reflection.
As we reflect, we find parts of the chain in our life where each link closes and connects with the other. A beginning, and an end. At the point where the links are joined, we carry parts of the previous link forward to the next.
For many people those connections are bonded by family, or very strong lifelong relationships. Connections which continue beyond our geographic moments, jobs or temporary acquaintances.
But for everyone, the primary bonding agent brought forward from one link to the next is us, our center, our values and core principles. Our beliefs.
The strength of the steel which comprises the links of our life is forged in the fire of adversity, weakness, challenge, pain, loss, and painful growth. The steel is then cooled with the tears of triumph, hurdles overcome and resolve.
The forging makes the steel stronger and able to withstand the pressures that accompany the additional length. Slowly the chain becomes wiser as it lengthens. Able to reach further, form more significant benefits and become more useful.
Hope replaces fear. Love replaces loneliness. Success replaces adversity. These are successful links began and finished while contributing to the whole.
At times we may manipulate the links with avoidance. We hide from -or choose to avoid- an issue in our effort to begin a new link before the old one was naturally, and spiritually, prepared to be closed.
Eventually, as life continues and the chain lengthens, the weak link can fracture, and we are forced to revisit/repair what we originally chose to avoid.
You see, in life we cannot control the universal laws that guide us. So, if we manipulate circumstances to avoid confronting our own weakness, we cannot fully strengthen our life of links. Eventually, the weakness of our past will impact our future.
So, what principles do we carry from link to link? What core values and beliefs stay with us throughout the journey of our lives? The answers to these questions are what makes us human spiritual beings.
We possess freewill able to make choices about what we do, and how we define our individual humanity; but can we then define ’right’ and ‘wrong’ according to our individual principles? Or are there principles that exceed our influence and definition?
Are there natural laws of right and wrong, good and bad, that cannot be subjected to the determination of man?
These are the bigger questions, perhaps the more important questions; and yet, perhaps the ones we reflect upon the least.
Consider the example of the ‘Law of the farm’ vs. the ‘Law of the School’. Natural principles vs. those made by man.
A student can skip class, take few notes, pay only half attention, then stay up all night cramming for a test and manage a decent grade. It depends on the student’s goal: grades or learning.
The student can choose to manipulate the education, by avoiding the learning and capturing the grade. This is possible in the ‘Law of the School’.
However, a farmer cannot take short cuts. A farmer cannot avoid tending to the soil, preparing the seed, fertilizing and nurturing the crop, and still gain the benefit of an abundant harvest.
The farmer must necessarily do all of the appropriate work in order to benefit from it. Such is the ‘Law of the Farm’, the natural law.
When one considers the weakness remaining within a poorly constructed and manipulated link, perhaps established by selfish choices and driven by avoidance and fear, one can be faithfully assured those who have dealt dishonestly with us will have to visit the issues of their association again.
Conversely, no amount of manipulation or avoidance on our own behalf is going to improve the frailty of any link without first resolving the lack of character which created the weakness.
So, we have choices in our lives. Decisions we each make regarding how we interact and participate in the lives and links of others, as well as how we choose to construct the links that comprise our own lives.
Do we base our sense of purpose around natural principles? Principles based on natural laws of right and wrong, good and bad, truth and lies. Do we forge strong links by following our heart, our values?
If we can interact with others absent of a prideful self-driven agenda, or manipulative intent, we can then apply such principles and strength to our endeavors.
If we protect the integrity of the soil upon which we build the foundation of our lives, we can live without regret.
If we fertilize and cherish our crop, and the crop of our neighbor, with honesty and sincere appreciation for the souls we meet along our chosen path, we will live a life of abundance.
If we tend carefully to the consideration of everyone, yet holding true to our values and principles, we can strengthen ourselves amid the face of adversity and disenchantment.
If we do not hide from, nor ignore our individual and collective faults, we can build the chain of our life with strength, humility, and purpose.
I wish for each of you a long chain of bold, strong, beautiful links, polished with the reflective brilliance of Love, and the very happiest of blessings for a brand-New Year.
Abiding love to all.
Steadfast,
~ Sundance
…Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Special thanks for all the good you do to our community of Misfits.
Praying God intervenes in our Nation’s ills.
God bless you and everyone in 2023, He makes all things new.
I choose to life my life with joy the best way I know how and try my best to never take things for granted. I will never allow Biden and all the other evil cohorts in the world to rob from me what our glorious heavenly Father has granted all of us….wisdom, mercy, freedom and love. God reigns above all and knowing that will always be the foundation for my peace.
Happy New Year and may God bless everyone here!
Amen!
Amen!!
God bless you Sundance 🙂
Thank you, Sundance, and thank you all for your kindness to each other! I’m a newbie and I always feel like a better person for having visited. I pray to be strong enough to not back down. To have greater faith. To trust Jesus more. “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 45:10, I think.
Welcome to the Treehouse Robin! 😀
Fireworks going off with enthusiasm in this neck of the woods!
I enjoy Sundance’s pause to call for insight.
Give GOD the glory for a Blessed and Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to Sundance, Menagerie, WeeWee, all the other mods here……….. and Howie – if you’re out there 😀
And to Grandma Covfefe (and Stillwater for keeping her post going).
Sundance – Thank you yet again for another year of insightful articles along with your wit and wisdom. You get better with each passing year, another bonus for Treepers.
So Happy New Year to you & all your CTH team, along with this Irish blessing….
May the best day of your past be the worst day of your future.
“When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” – Yogi Berra
Happy New Year Everybody!
Jesus in Luke tells us to ask and keep on asking seek and keep on seeking knock and keep on knocking. Do not stop praying God is in control.
I’m praying for 2023 to be better than 2022. I lost my 39 year old son who “died suddenly”, and my dog of 15 years. I was blessed to have them in my life but it’s been a very difficult year. I pray for all of us to find peace, and hope for the future of our country and the world. Peace be with us all.
Praying for you Inthedark.
May you find peace, comfort, and support through your grief.
May God bless you and hold you in the palm of His hands, in 2023 and beyond. 🙏
Inthedark so very sad for your loss. I’m praying for you.
Inthedark praying for you and your’s God Bless
R.D.
I am sorry for your loss. I pray that you will find peace.
My son is 2 years older than yours and I can not imagine the grief you must feel. He is in a better place. May God bless you with love and compassion in the coming year.
And JOY much JOY to all who reside here. Steadfastly praying as I’m tired of crying for what I cannot control. So yes find JOY and relish in it…..God Bless Us Everyone ❤️
I lost my oldest son at 39 too in ’21. It is a crushing loss.
Sending you love and light.
Praise the LORD that we begin a new year without Roe vs. Wade!
Happy New Year Sundance. As always, thank you for your words of wisdom and your excellence in composing them so beautifully.
Sundance’s threads caught my eye early on, because they were so concise and made me think.
Once I discovered his Blog, I hungrily absorbed each article.
I’m not sure that I would be the same person today, without his insight and the comments (so valuable to me)!
I’m deeply grateful to all of you.
I’m thankful for this post every time I see it, largely because I need it repeatedly hammered into my head to make it stick. 😅
Lotta wisdom there and it’s hard to keep it from spilling out, sorta like that Canadian Pol Freeland in one of her favored two sizes too small dresses. 🤮
Probably a good time to give a huge thanks to the intrepid Treehouse Mod Squad for all their hard work and to wish the whole lot of you a Happy New Year.
May the new one suck less than the old one.
Happy New Year Sundance and all your tireless helpers at the Treehouse. May God bless you and all of your followers. Keep the faith and never give up. I believe there is a reason we all found Sundance.
Happy New Year everyone !
Happy New Year Sundance and all of you wonderful Treepers.
In a little over an hour from now, I’ll probably be hearing (and seeing) the fireworks go off. I think I’ll stay home tonight and hopefully the dogs don’t get spooked by the fireworks. Just drinking bottled water, maybe some Lipton tea later on. Ice cream with fudge topping sounds good. I plan on visiting my spouse tomorrow morning and I like to have a clear head when I see her. Keeping the flip phone nearby in case there’s an emergency.
And here we go. It’s after midnight. Loud booms coming from the street behind me. Lacy and Millie barked a couple of times; haven’t from Molly yet. Molly is the 14 year old Chihuahua who probably doesn’t hear as well as she used to.
What a mind
What a heart
What a perspective
-What a lovely human
Thank you………………
Happy New Year❣️❣️❣️
-Abundant blessings to, of and for you , Sundance❣️
✝️❤️🇺🇸
Happy New Year!!
Thank you Sundance for all you do.
May this year hold many blessings for all Treepers everywhere.
Happy New Year to you and yours, and to the entire little band of CTS misfits.
This is a pen name for Sundance,
“…Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
“I wish for each of you a long chain of bold, strong, beautiful links, polished with the reflective brilliance of Love, and the very happiest of blessings for a brand-New Year.
Abiding love to all.
Steadfast,
Wishing you each love and continued blessings and strength.
We will continue to be challenged in many ways but stick together and pull each other up if encouragement is needed. Most importantly, hold on to your faith and follow BB’s light.
He is giving us a gift of a lifetime and leading us to a whole New World.
I’ve lost a lot of friends. But I’ve kept my integrity…
Try to revisit the part where our paths diverge away from our friends and loved ones. If we listen carefully to Jesus’ Word, we are not here only for ourselves. Christians inspire goodwill all around.
I used to be exasperated by teachers who lumped everyone together for punishment. How unfair that I should suffer when I did nothing wrong! Now, I understand it is the chain itself that needs tending, and that includes each and every link. We are all *connected.*
We can TRY to help the others along.. TRY to help the lost sheep find the one true path. TRY to repair the weak links in our chain.
These selfless acts will
strengthen our human chain. The key is to not lose ourselves in the process, to keep our minds clear and free of distractions. We must be mindful while raising other boats, to not sink our own in the process.
The more we give outside of ourselves, the more charity/grace we in turn will receive. God instructs humanity that we are in this chain of life together.
Love you! 👊👊🇺🇸🇺🇸🙏🏻🙏🏻
The road less traveled is the Narrow One proclaimed by Jesus. May there be minimal brambles and thorns, with no long-hanging branches to snag any latter-day Absaloms.
The chain links of our respective lives are forged by the Lord God Almighty. May the chains of Satan’s Isaiah 5:20 “progressive/reset” minions here and abroad weigh heavily upon them one Day. As for We The People, here is Oswald Chambers’s December 31 devotional: https://utmost.org/yesterday/. InTheDark, please read and be blessed!
Fear knocked, faith answered and there was no one there. Useful words for the coming days. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. WOKE culture is fear culture. The fear that some word or some action will unleash the insanity we all see in the world in your personal direction. The greater part of the population sees the insanity and they lower their eyes and look the other way. That fear will end in the coming year. The only answer is courage. 2+2 is not 5. DNA does matter. The people have had enough, seen enough nonsense. I will not participate in the insanity.
The Good Lord gave this song to me around 40 years ago:
You cannot live the future,
And you cannot live the past.
When you try to live the present,
You realize that it won’t last.
Every day is such a gift to you,
The key is seeing it that way.
So keep in mind all you plan and do,
And the person you portray.
This day is one step from eternity.
Live your life accordingly.
Show the ones you daily see
God’s Spirit guides and sets you free.
So while you cannot live the future,
And you cannot live the past,
And while you live the present daily,
You see it going by so fast.
So don’t trust in present fortunes,
Nor the past, or future plans.
But trust in God your Father,
Who holds all time within His hands.
Each day is one step from eternity.
Live your life accordingly.
Show the ones you daily see
God’s Spirit guides and sets you free.
From 2021: Our Indispensable Man by Ben Boychuk:
Angelo Privilege by Julie Ponzi:
“My last long conversation with Angelo was just before the recent 9/11 anniversary, when we discussed his plans for future articles and what was happening in the world. He insisted that what was necessary at this crucial moment in American politics was leadership. He seemed confident that our crisis also announces opportunities. The greatest challenges offer the greatest possibilities to display human excellence, and thus will invite a statesman of real ambition and ability to emerge and remind Americans of what makes us unique among the peoples of the Earth: our instinct (if not always our understanding) that we are and ought to be the sovereigns of our own destiny. Our ruling-class oligarchs have supplanted that sovereignty through an administrative state that does their bidding while claiming to adorn itself in the forms and trappings of constitutionality. Yet their open contempt for our actual Constitution and its purposes proves only how difficult self-government is to achieve and maintain. Freedom under the law is not the usual way of things in this world. It is our privilege to fight to reestablish and maintain it.”…….
“Stop pretending.”
Rest in the Vine: “How Our Oligarchy Crushes Terrorism” by Professor Angelo Codevilla
Thank you Sundance and the same back to you and your loved ones! We shall prevail because of the ONE that connects us all! Happy New Year and God Bless you and those who gather here!
Happy New Year to all and thank you for this haven of sanity amidst the insanity of 2022 Sundance.
You are wise. I so appreciate this essay.
My daily prayer is to love God, know myself and to share love and kindness with the people I encounter.
Namaste 🙏🏻🙏🏻
And P.S… screw the crapweasels that took over our government
One of your best, thank you! And may this new year be the most fruitful new year in the course of many. Godspeed🇺🇸 and God bless
“This year I watched the physical landscape where my youth unfolded, forever changed; much of it erased completely.”
Thank you, Sundance.
1983, 1985, 1989.
When I got to my truck in the Publix parking lot around 1:00 that Christmas Eve, there was ice in the door lock. I cried most of the way home.
A generation that was surrounded and supported by orange trees that our parents and their kin had planted — we played in the groves, swam and fished in their lakes. We climbed our backyard trees and ate oranges anytime.
We grew up and our older
kids did the same. Now, we remember the groves and teach the young’uns the names of the lakes while dodging traffic.
There are a few citrus trees in the yard so they get to pick a few oranges and eat with the juice running down their chins .♥️
Counting our Blessings.
Amen.
time is what you make of it. “new” year, is a fictional distraction from the NOW.
there is not reset, unless you imagine such a thing can exist.
if you can imagine a reset is possible based on some timeline, I recommend adjusting your expectations more regularly.
“I will start my new diet NEXT YEAR”
“I will work better on my relationships in THE NEW YEAR”
“LAST YEAR, was…xxxx…THIS YEAR, will be better”
calendar and imagined deadlines are reasons to delay action.
take this moment right now, and make what ought to be
what is.
then every single day is a new day, a chance and opportunity to live your best life…each and every moment.
this is one of the reasons I do not celebrate “new years day”.
it might seem pendant to carry on about this.
but it is the most unusual thing to observe how many people who put so much emphasis and delayed action until some PRESCRIBED IMAGINED date of the calendar arrives.
when is NOW?
God Bless America
Greatness comes from the understanding of where you came from, the grit and remarkable goals achieved.
A dear man produced this video, “if you would like to see how America rolls” …
Spooky how you put in words what in my 83 years what I have gleaned from my life experiences. Had a jump start by being blessed with growing up on a farm.
Incredibly simple and lovely. God Bless YOU and all who visit this magnificent site.
Sundance – Thanks for this. So very beautifully written, and so true! May your wish be the same for you – a beautiful, strong, highly-polished long chain – with many more fully-formed links in your future.
I wonder if you are aware how much your musings mean to our Community.
That is my very favorite poem.