A reflection on smoothing out

Spring break is a good time to reflect on many matters. One such matter is the reflection on whether one's walk through this life is decent or not. I have a lot of times looked back, usually by decades. There is regret, for sure. But there have been times when I think the direction was correct. But, there's always that gray category. Probably the actions were correct, but the attitudes were not or the clear receptions of others were not. A person would think that by making time for reflections from time to time, like the one here at spring break, one's life would smooth out over time or be more even-keeled than it is.

I think one can only see smoothness if some of the same events happen a number of times in each decade. Then, maybe one could see a smoothing out. A couple of events come immediately to mind. One of those events was a week ago. And looking at it this time, I finally see that growth can be charted. That's rewarding in a way and nerve-wracking in another way. It's nice to see that events can be reacted to differently. It's nice to see that as human beings we have the ability to monitor and adjust during the course of our whole lives. But, one growth event does not a smoothing out make. What will happen the next time or the next? Maybe 10 events with a certain reaction would reflect a smoothing out. Whatever. The first of ten is now in the record books. I'm really not looking forward to the other nine, but I know they will inevitably come. I hear the words of a book I recently translated, "So many do not have faith. But God is faithful." And so I trust that the other nine will be in line with decent living.