Bus Stop Encounters

In its grand benevolence, the universe then gave me a few days of peace and quiet from its message: "Destiny will lead you to the turning points in your life, but then it’s up to you to take those moments and do something with them."

So the fourth instance of hearing this pesky message would not occur until several days later. It happened during a Wednesday night sermon that I attended with friends. Trust me... just exactly how I managed to wind up sitting in a Wednesday night church service is most likely the oddest thing about receiving the message this fourth time.

"Destiny will lead you to the turning points in your life, but then it’s up to you to take those moments and do something with them."

The fifth occasion was when "accidentally" overhearing a casual sidewalk conversation while doing the tourist thing in Old Town Albuquerque, New Mexico.

By now, I was listening with both ears wide open!

The sixth and final repetition of the message occurred later that night during a wee bit of mindless channel surfing through the various cable stations in my hotel room.

"Destiny will lead you to the turning points in your life, but then it’s up to you to take those moments and do something with them."

Destiny Gets Us To The Bus Stops
Destiny - as mirrored in our astrological charts - can get us to all the many "bus stops" (or airport terminals). And quite frankly... the consequences of the many choices we make (at all the many "bus stop" moments in life) have a way of boggling the mind.

The future events in our lives are not solely fated. They are interactions of who we are, who we've been, our circumstances, and the exercise of free will. Destiny will lead you to all of the many turning points in your life, but then it’s up to you to take hold of those moments and do something with them.

Never fear. Free will is alive, well, and living on planet Earth.

I’ve always been fascinated (and a wee bit nervous) by how the entire course of one's life can be changed in a brief and seemingly ordinary moment. Destiny [as mirrored in the stars] will lead us to the potentially significant turning points in our lives, but then it’s up to you (and me) to be aware and/or awake enough to make something out of those moments.

Too Simple
Again... it’s not that I’d never heard this message before. I have, and you have. And it's not in the least bit important to know what happened (or what didn't happen) to me over the course of my vacation.

What is vitally important is that during my vacation I (at least momentarily) was reawakened to the pregnant possibilities of the moment and reawakened to living fully present in the moment.

As a result of the persistent, repetitive, "simple" message, I became increasingly sensitive and alert to all of the daily "minor" chance encounters and opportunities happening all around me.

Puppets or Partners
Like the message - the moral of the story is deceptively "simple." We can chose to live out our lives as passive puppets of fate or as active partners in our destiny.

Most of us (including myself) spend way too much time waiting around for the "big moments" in life to "happen to us." Yep! We spend much of our time waiting around, either in hopeful anticipation or in nervous dread. We spend way too little time and/or energy in consciously preparing ourselves to be active participants and partners in the "big moments."

Each and every day we wake to the dawning of the Sun with a choice to make. At that dawning, we can make the all too easy, unconscious choice of robotically, mindlessly walking through our day on autopilot. We've all done this, we've all "been there." I admit that there are times in our lives when autopilot is the only way to make it through the day. However, in doing this, we wind up getting caught in the trap of allowing events to "happen to us."

On the other hand, we can make the tougher choice of consciously walking through life as active, alert, and mindful participants. Making this tougher daily choice of living in the moment - over the course of time - builds spiritual muscle, strength, and vitality.

Then - when the "big moments" and/or the "Super Bowl" turning points do come our way - we'll be ready, willing, and able to act on those "big moments."