Thanks Jerry (page 6)

The fog fell early tonight.  I've driven back and forth on Cranberry Road for ten years now.  And in one decade I have never seen what I saw tonight...

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

The sun sat in the middle of the road's dashed lines a little ways up in the sky.  Trees took it on either side.  A green-leafed hallway waiting for Autumn air to burn all its colors brighter than they've shown these past eight months.  And it stayed in the same place stacked up on the backs of those branches right at the end of the street where I'd soon have to decide which way to go. Both directions have probably seen me equal amounts of times.  Just tonight, when I reach that STOP sign, deliberations will incur under the one star who's path might never be found.

I drove for a bit over a mile till that point came. And it's like I found the sun's path.  But I don't consider myself an explorer of any sorts.  I just happened upon the blue prints of the celestial on my way to the cinema.

I think we walk about life ignorant on most days. Don't worry, you can say, "No," and disagree with me. But really, I find it hard to believe that you have every single ounce of every single day of every bit of your life figured out down to even your dying day.

My friend, reader, fellow companion in pursuit of the Divine, reread my condescension and understand that I am being highly facetious because - for me and maybe it's only me, but (more sarcasm) - I think I'm getting firsthand glimpses of me being at a complete lack for control over how the world spins.  Really, I have thoughts on how things should be done.  I've gone to school for the 18+ years learning what teachers tell me to learn and graduating with a highly pretentious degree implying/indicating that I'm a writer of sorts.  And it's an education that makes me think I have a good grasp on the way things work.

They forgot to tell me, "One day you'll be driving around, maybe even to the cinema, and you'll see the sun floating up there way away in space and you'll think to yourself, 'Wow, why haven't I ever stared at the sun before?'  And once you walk out of the film you'll be lingering with friends going between 'Do we sneak into the next showing or not?'  And you'll discover then that rarely does logic apply to life because you just resolved that one day before you die, you will run up against some grand-schemed-System with Its lawmakers and conspiracy theorists, and you will sneak into that film not paying your $8.50 for no other reason than experiencing the thrill of doing something out of line.  That will be your escape from the normal."

And that, my illogical peers, is what any one person has never taught me during my 24-years of life.

Instead, I needed to go about the normal not looking for any trouble at all.  And the moment I drove into that normal, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I fell out of line into something different.  It was the same road I've traveled 3,650 times plus some, but it's like the surrounding world was completely changed from anything I knew before.

The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)

I share this verse with you because I can picture the more detailed story that was left out of the Bible going something like this:

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS PURE SPECULATION. IT IS NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OF FORM, TRUTH. IT IS COMPLETE FICTITIOUS, IF YOU WILL.

One day a man walked out into a field.  The field was always his first step.  Just this time, instead of turning toward his home, he'd continue walking straight into the sun, seeing where it led.  Earlier he had decided he wanted to take a new way home.  Something different. Something completely stranger to him.  He figured he could let all life slide for the next couple of hours since, really, he had no clue of how long it would take him to get home.  

Think of diverting yourself via foreign country on another continent rather than taking the typical 5-minute ride home.

So he's walking about.  Crosses a river. Hops over a mountain.  Scales the steepest cliffside and proceeds to take in a nice long deep breath on its precipice.  All without breaking a sweat, mind you, because this is the "Bible" and he's a man's man character. Then he comes across another field.  Says, "Sure."  And takes a few steps more.  Finds himself the most beautiful, the most unspeakable wonder of all time greater than any word ever used for its own description.

But for our purposes we'll call it the kingdom of heaven because it is like this(PLACE YOUR AMPLIFYING ADJECTIVE HERE) treasure. 

So this man ends up discovering what has never been discovered before and it was not by any foreknowledge of even 18-years of education.  Life taught him.  It's as if some higher power opened his eyes to something that's always been hidden along the same path he's always taken home.

Now, after finding this treasure he's been able to adventure to places quite foreign and magnificent that he's never thought about going.  And after very quickly realizing the freedom he's been given, he goes, sells all that he owns, and purchases the field.

The extended version of this story goes onto explain that the field is ever-changing.  It always keeps a freshness and newness about it.  So we never get bored with life.  In a way, it kind of sounds like the car ride I had where I drove down the same old road, but found a brand new view of the world around me, one I've never beheld before.  And it was wonderful.

And, if you must know my critical reader, the reason this detailed version of the parable was left out of the Bible was because, well, it was horribly written and mentions the word "Bible" in it.  I mean, what book would mention that it is a book within in its binding?  Strange.

But the honest truth still remains: I have lost any clue of what to expect in life.

I mean, one night I'm completely messed up at a late night beach excursion because I'm, for the first time, realizing good friends of the past will still be good friends, just not in the same way. (Sad.)

The next time I'm caught up in my car, deaf to the rain only an arms reach away, enjoying my own type of quiet.  (Peaceful.)

And then I'm repeating what I expected to be normal - driving Cranberry Road just as I always have to get into town - but the normal turns out only to be a guise for a new way of experiencing life. (Refreshing.)

I think through all of this progression from one day to the next, I am beginning to discover/rediscover a treasure I've probably had all along, but never fully understand its worth until now.