the woods are crawling with them...

Great musicians, that is. And pathways... and choices. I got to see an amazing collection of talent last night, here in Grimes County at a private gathering;"invitation only." Given the circumstances I did not bring my camera, so I can't really illustrate my first point, which is... There are so many excellent musicians out there, HERE, many performing for free or cheap, rather than stay home and waste away. The jam session I saw made me wonder what is really happening to us as a culture.

This bunch is not so addicted to technology as the rest of us, but rather the real and sensual. But they are a minority, and given their Bohemian eccentricities, they and their preferences will stay that way. These are what Ray Wylie Hubbard calls the "Night People." He sings a song I love called Rabbit where he explains that there are two kinds of people in the world, the Day People and the Night People. "And it's the Night People's job to get the Day People's money."

And that's what these folks do, using their various creative talents, and then they get together amongst themselves and really celebrate. The results are mesmerizing. They are seeking, experiencing, trying to find their own path. Not watching somebody else's on a screen. And all while a majority of Americans stay home and watch bad TV.

Casual conversation among these highly intelligent, artistic, and liberated spirits highlighted the differences to me, as I sat between them and the rest of our culture. This eclectic, right-brained crowd has at least one basic characteristic, that of being pathfinders. Although I would not recommend that you always follow them, artists and musicians are usually the problem solvers, trend setters, inventors and embellishers, the vanguard of any culture. One guy offered that they are really like farmers, dependent on natural forces, weather and seasons and such. Yet they would have it no other way. They are a multi-talented, adventuresome group, in love with active creativity; hands-on involvement, and not as concerned about money or the accumulation of it; Determined to live life to the fullest, not to miss out on life's simple, but to them essential pleasures.

The truth is, pardon me for saying so, most of you, that's right, most of you... have never lived. As defined by these natural born risk-takers. Don't get mad, I'm just trying to explain that most people never break away from what has been and is now expected of them, instead forever bound by responsibility, while options of true personal self-expression and self-fulfillment pass unexplored, for most or all of their lives. I shudder for instance, when I consider all of the wonderfully talented women I have met while teaching art, who waited until they had raised their children or grandchildren to take art lessons, when all the while they had serious artistic ability that went largely untapped. They often just shrug off what might have been. Their pardigm never allowed them to know the answers to the "what ifs." This bunch in "the wood" could never live with that.

Most people live their lives in fear of something that governs their actions, and those self-inflicted lifetime fences inhibit their lives, creating a kind of security, and yet prohibiting true human joy.

I know, we all have to live in the real world, and face and accept the responsibilities in our life-path. But too many of us put our heads down and ignore those serendipidous rabbit trails that life affords. Even Jesus spoke of the need for joy, and even he had to go out in a boat and go fishing, when hundreds or maybe thousands waited for him across the lake on the shore. He had to get away, clear his mind, return to the core of his being, align himself with God's Universe, and let go of daily anxiety and frustration... and get some rest.

There is Kingdom work, and then there is just human toil. And there is joy, ordained by the Creator, in your work as well. That lesson was lost on me before my heart attack, because I did not think it was such a big deal.

It is a big deal. But some of you will not listen to this line of reasoning, and ignore your own God-given rabbit trails, until it is too late. Sress is also not part of your Divine lifestyle.

Jesus: "Which of you by worrying can add one jot or tittle to your life?"

Ray Wylie: "I said to the rabbit are you gonna make it? The rabbit said, I got to!"

Follow the narrow path. Go find the music. Your true life depends on it. Some of those rabbit trails turn out be your intended God-given highway. Search for your significance. Feed your soul. Get out of the house! Otherwise life is as Solomon, the supposedly wisest man that ever lived, said; Meaningless, and mere vanity.