“Our experiences shape the way we think, the way we interact with each other, and the way we live. They add richness and depth and meaning to our days. . . . To saturate those trips [around the sun] with people and places, moments and memories, creates a richness that never stops. It allows the question, ‘Remember when. . . .?’ to fire the joy all over again.”- Dick Foth
“I want to know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”- Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV)
In Chapter 2 (“Accumulate Experiences”) of A Trip around the Sun, Dick Foth underscores that the gift of experience is priceless. You can always get things. But the memory of our experiences lasts. Like the Fourth of July fireworks on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston.
Most significantly, Scott Brown, a medical doctor and psychiatrist, asserts that play = the mother of invention. Not necessity. In addition, Dr. Brown states:
“When we stop playing, we stop developing, and when that happens the laws of entropy take over — things fall apart. . . . When we stop playing, we start dying.”
Above all, Dick wonders, when you choose to experience life instead of just getting through it, what new hopes arise? Both Jesus and Paul (Philippians 3:10-11) call us to new experiences. Certainly, Dick notes, the apostle Paul loved the structure of forensic and legal language. Yet, Paul put his dreams in experience language.
In conclusion, Dick stresses, today’s things quickly end up in tomorrow’s trash. However, a living, breathing experience shapes our souls, enriches our lives, and makes our world a doorway to tomorrow. You pay attention more as well as think more strategically. And you find yourself intentional about experience and play. Because an experience can impact you for the rest of your life.
Today’s question: How do you saturate those trips around the sun? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Measured in moments, not minutes”
