Some days can be tricky.  Other days… not so tricky.  It seems to be arbitrary.  But is it?

Here is the thing. We had dinner this evening with some old friends. Good old friends.  Not only are they wonderful, kind people…. yes… they really are old. (Joking.)

We had a great night, and as always… truly nice to spend time with the ones you love in life.

At any rate, one subject which came up tonight was “a rogue squirrel on the bird feeder” at their home in Cincy.  The topic spun a hundred different ways… but I suggested “embracing the squirrel.”  That got a good laugh.

But.

I was being serious.  You see, I continue to get the message of “acceptance” in my life.  Not fighting the river, but letting the water flow just as it does.  Acceptance is very key, I think, to our well being.

Accepting change.  Accepting diversity.  Accepting differences.  Accepting a lot of things.

One of my favorite prayers is the Serenity Prayer.

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Ahhhhhh….. the wisdom know the difference.

But.  The truth of the matter is…. life is unpredictable.  It changes all the time.  We don’t control the universe… in fact… we can’t even control everything within our own circle of life.  We can influence, or try to influence things all we want.  But there are things which are completely out of our control.

We can’t control others.  People may not “be” the way we want them to be.  Sometimes, we simply have to accept this.  Or let go.

Life is imperfect.  We are imperfect.
There will be things we don’t know how to handle, or don’t want to.  But in the moment, if we can accept where we are, and know this is where we are supposed to be by the way of the Universal Clockworks….

Acceptance does not mean that we completely agree with what is happening.  Some situations need to be changed.  But.… Acceptance means that we are able to look right at the present…. and say in that single moment that…. this moment is right now in front of me.. and I acknowledge… it is here… neither good nor bad.

This is where the ultimate understanding is.
At least, in this moment, that seems to be what I think about this life.  It is best for us to try to accept our moments.  And live.
And for crying out loud… let the little squirrel live.

“Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don’t resist them – that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like.” – Lao-Tzu

“Of course there is no formula for success except, perhaps, an unconditional acceptance of life and what it brings.” ~Arthur Rubinstein