What will?

Fill in the blanks: If ___________ doesn't force me to ______________, then what will? 

I don't know where your mind went with that, but a couple of things prompted this thinking for me. Current headlines, for one. If anger and disgust over what's happening in our country today doesn't force me to do something to facilitate change, then what will? Try though you might to prevent it, every conversation seems to get around to politics. One colleague has started keeping track of how long it takes. Now, talking about politics is not a bad thing. It can indicate engagement. But, what it mostly means is that people are complaining, expressing opinions, looking for agreement but not active solutions. Opposition counts on apathy to ensure the status quo. Our discontent doesn't seem to be at the tipping point yet. What will that be? For us collectively? For you? For me?

This 'what will' thinking really started last December. Cancer was behind me. It was the holidays, my first December in this home and I was thoroughly enjoying it and them. But, one morning during my quiet time I said to myself, "If having cancer doesn't force me to lose weight, then what will?"

For my whole life that been the biggest 'what will?' It wasn't love or logic. It wasn't embarrassment or encouragement, challenge or comfort, theology or therapy. Or, it seems, cancer. So, I don't have the answer to that question or the one above. Perhaps, as I continue to go mindfully through day-to-day life, at least being aware of the issue is enough. For now. Is it enough for you, with whatever is the biggest 'what will' in your life, to also simply be sitting with an awareness and contemplation of it to feel as though you are moving along its continuum? If not, what will?

Marilyn