I once read a quote that has since both challenged and haunted me. Jim Elliott wrote, "Wherever you are, be all there." (If you are familiar with his story, you know these were much more than words.)
I have a super power. (I don't mean to brag.) It's never shown up it in a comic book, nor have I seen it demonstrated on the big screen. My super power? I have an uncanny ability to live in places other than the present. I often visit the future. At other times, I can be found in the past.
My super power comes with limitations. Though I often visit the what-may-come, it tends to be a place of anxiety; one that brings me stress upon teleporting back to the now. And the problem with the historical aspect of my super power - no matter how deeply or emotionally involved my climb into the past, I have not yet mastered the ability to change it. Not. One. Thing.
Come to think of it, my super power is not very super. And it has no power.
Max didn't share my abilities. He was stuck in the here-and-now. I'm not sure he really ever thought about yesterday or tomorrow. I never caught him staring at his puppy pictures reminiscing about his youth. Max never rushed through a Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday...) to get to the weekend.
Max was just there. Wherever (and whenever) he was, he was there. He was present. One of the things I miss most about Max was his there-ness. When I sat on the couch, he was there, curled up at my feet; or sitting, leaning against my leg with his head on my knee. When I was in my office he was there lying close by. As I would leave he was at the door asking to go with me (to be wherever there was about to be). When I came home... well, you guessed it... Max was always there.
The lesson here is not to go on about missing Max. The lesson is to be there. Wherever (and whenever) we find ourselves, to be fully present. This is a super power; an attainable and learnable one. We can grow in there-ness.
"The center of the earth can be anywhere you like"
-- Reggie Kray, Legend.
Those we care most about are aware of our there-ness. And being there is about more than physical presence only. Being there includes emotional there-ness, relational there-ness.
Thinking about it a little more, my super power is a little selfish. Whether in the past or in the future, it is a lonely thing. It is a me-only thing. Conversely, The Law of There-ness (yes, I just made that up) states: ONE CAN ONLY BE PRESENT FOR OTHERS IN THE PRESENT.
Max lived that. I think I'm ditching my super power.
For now...
D
