Tony Woodlief | Author

Listen

Wife tells me that when baby Isaiah went for his two year-old check-up this week, the doctor announced that he was to receive two shots.

“Two shots!” Isaiah shouted with glee. “Two shots!” Either he thought he was going to play guns with his brothers, or he believed shots is a new kind of candy.

You can imagine his disappointment.

I think many of the glittery and mysterious things of the world are like that, too. We think on them, we obsess over them, and then when we finally get them good and hard, we find out that they just plain hurt. And usually it takes more than a Sesame Street Band-Aid to set things to rights.

At the other end of that taut line of human existence, we ignore the things that bring peace and quiet joy, because we have become conditioned to yearn for glitter. So we pine after what will hurt us, and wallow in dissatisfaction amongst the blessings. Or maybe that’s just me. But if it’s you too, at least sometimes, then what say we make a pact to stop chasing trinkets, and just . . . listen. To the wind, to the sound of far-off traffic, to the beating of our own hearts.

Just listen.

On Key

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