The Limits of Certainty

He told you he’d never leave you, didn’t he?

Then how dare he go off and die like that.

Sure, the cancer wasn’t his fault.

But isn’t there more he could have done?

More that I could have done?

We know the world is uncertain. But that is too uncomfortable.

We want declarations and contracts and promises.

We want evidence that today will be just like yesterday, if we want it to be.

We comfort ourselves with the illusion of certainty wherever we can.

And this weakens us. It makes us complacent.

It allows us to take for granted the people who may be gone tomorrow.

It allows us to spurn the opportunity which could catapult us upwards.

Those who experience true gratitude, true urgency and true generosity know that it could all be over sooner rather than later, that life is too short to wait for tomorrow and that each kindness you do for someone could be their last, or yours.

But what these people also know is that profound transformation could be around the corner.

And it could be bright.

The vicissitudes of everyday life can only be dealt with one day at a time.

There is a dance between focussing on each step while checking the map every once in a while.

Some never check the map until they realise that they have gone way off course and feel much too old or embarrassed to change paths.

Others are so concerned with the map, worried that they will stray the wrong way, that they miss the journey in its entirety.

Once you have developed confidence in your own path

through faith, accomplishment or connections

forget the map

and love unreservedly while you can.