The statistical probability of you coming into existence is said to sit at around 1:400 trillion. The mere fact that you were born meets the criteria of “a miracle”.
How are you using your miracle?
I’d like to imagine that when our soul is first created, we are handed two things – a box of gifts and a pocket watch.
How many gifts you have contained in your box varies, but every soul has at least one. Most souls have quite a few. The gifts themselves are varied in appearance. Some gifts are shiny and studded with gems while others are plain and simple upon first glance, but all of the gifts carry the same worth to the universe.
Like the variance in the gifts, the watches too, will vary- not in appearance, but in the amount of turns that each is wound. Some are wound just a few turns and will stop ticking just a short while after they start. Others, wound long and tight, will tick for many years to come. The back of the watch is welded and there is no way to know just how far the watch is wound inside. But eventually, every watch stops ticking.
It is our job, as long as our soul roams the earth, to give away each of our gifts before our watch stops ticking. And when our watch stops ticking, our time on earth is over. Some gifts, often the shiny and extravagant looking ones, will be easy to give away. Others, carrying a more humble appearance will have to wait until the right recipient comes along before it can be removed from the box. But each gift carries equal importance no matter how easy it is to give away or how attractive the gift is. It is crucial that they be dispensed because each gift carries a purpose in the universe.
Taking the time to discover the gifts that lie in our box is a challenge. Our souls are born into darkness. Searching for a light source, using our senses of touch, taste, smell, sound, we must first discover what our gifts are… feeling every corner of the box to be sure we haven’t missed any.
Once we are aware of what our gifts are, we must then find willing recipients. Can they even see our gift when we first take it out of the box? Does this person have a use for our gift or am I imposing it on them? Will they treasure it or will they laugh at it and toss it aside? Does it need to be shined or wiped off…or is our receiver ready to accept it just the way it is? Do we have the courage to show our gifts despite the chance of rejection?
The discovery and the release of our gifts are challenges we bear but the greatest challenge lies not in what our gifts are or who they will be presented to. The challenge lies in the watch. Some people will have only hours on their watch, some days, some years, some decades, some, even a century. The fact that we can read and have organized thought means that we are already amongst the fortunate who have received a watch wound longer than many. But none of us know whether our watch has another 20 years of unwinding or if it is running on its last hours. No one knows where they will be when it stops….but when it does, that invisible box will once again reappear and you hope that the box is empty. You hope that you have given everything that you had….lest your arms be full and your heart be heavy with regret.
Despite the fact that we were all handed the same two items and were all given the same instructions to dispense them, each soul will be dropped in a different place and will encounter different challenges on their journey. Some will find themselves in castles. Others, in huts. Some will carry their box up a snow-capped mountain and others while they search for water in the desert. Regardless of the journey, there is equal opportunity to gift. Tragedy lies not in those who have a steeper or more difficult climb but in those who fail to look into their box – Those who fail to see the gifts that they carry on their journey – Those who are so caught up in the distractions of life, be it extravagance or suffering, that they forget the box entirely.
But even worse than that, the biggest tragedy of all, are the souls who, knowing they carry a box full of gifts, plod along with a complete disregard to the ticker in their pocket.
Time is defined as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole.”
“Indefinite” : somewhere a pocket watch will always be always ticking.
“Continued progress” : new watches, new boxes are always landing with new souls to carry them.
“events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole” : the soul’s journey and the gifts to be given are all a part of a bigger picture
But the time on one watch is NOT indefinite. It is very limited. And without the progress of individual souls seeking to share their gifts, the progress of the whole is stalled. Without your gifts, the world is lacking.
1 in 400 trillion…That means if there were 54,794 worlds with the same population as planet earth and every soul from all the worlds put their name in a giant hat….and they drew one name to be the soul who would be dropped off and deliver their gifts, they picked your name.
We get excited about winning a raffle where our odds are 1:100 but not about winning life with odds of 1: 400,000,000,000.
If time were an object that could be carried in your pocket, would you be more aware of its limit?
Would a concrete form of the intangible sense of time allow people to realize just how precious it is?
Why don’t we all wake up in the morning with an immediate sense of making it our best day? Of searching for opportunity to share and discover?
Why do bucket lists take so long to check off?
Why is there a lack of sense of urgency?
How do we become complacent?
If you knew that your watch was on its final rotations, would you be satisfied with how you’ve spent your time?
My dream is that when my watch stops ticking, I’ll be sitting on the beach after sunset ………. laughing.
My head and my heart will be overflowing with memories, discoveries, adventures and accomplishments.
My body scarred and my clothes tattered … I’ll be tired and sore, but the good kind of tired and sore… like the way you feel after you’ve just finished a really big project or ran a really big race and you did it well.
And as the colored sky fades to darkness, I’ll close my eyes and picture where my gifts are sitting.
And in my hands I’ll feel the weightlessness of an empty box.
