Sometimes when I have one of those "aha!" moments I think perhaps I should write it down so I can remember it. This past week has been one of the busiest and most troublesome I can remember...not in my own life...but in dealing with the problems of others. I feel like the farmer who is attempting to clear his field and keeps running into rocks. Although I am in familiar territory, it is though I am plowing new ground...and with each pass new rocks are turned over. I was reminded of this field I fell upon on the border between England and Scotland ... near the town of Berwick upon Tweed. This beautiful field of rolling hills covered in grasses and wildflowers was, I suspect, not always so lovely. For generations those who plowed these fields have carried the rocks they turned over to the edge of the cliff - overlooking the North Sea. Rather than toss the rocks over the edge, they have built a wall about three feet high that runs for miles. I was this morning reminded of the Carl Sandburg poem, "Mending the Wall" where he reminds us that 'good fences make good neighbors'. When I encounter those rocks in my life's walk... I need to remember not to attempt to get rid of them, but to use them to establish the boundaries to my life. This takes more time and more effort, but perhaps then ... these will not be barriers, but will become a thing of beauty that remind me (and others) of the efforts to define our parameters ... and will remain a legacy for generations to come.
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