Getting on the Right List

Dear Reader:

Doesn’t life sometimes seem like a pile of lists that we have to check off to get through it?

From the time we are little we all learn about lists…the list who shows which teacher we got for the year or the list that shows our class schedule or the list that tells us if we made the “cut” in a particular sport …it might even be a list that shows if we made the acceptance list to a college or university we want to attend. We grow up becoming quite familiar with lists.

The problem with “to-do” lists is that they are never ending. As soon you  complete one…you find yourself making  another one. At some point in life, don’t we all stop and wonder….is this all there is to life…to-do lists?

In THE TO-BE LIST book by Latesha Randall with Sebastian Walter…they felt the same way. Isn’t life supposed to be more than doing…shouldn’t there be time provided for simply being?

(Excerpts from The To-Be List)

“Sometimes you just want someone to give you a little perspective and remind you that life isn’t all about doing- it’s about the beautiful journey of being.

We live in a busy, fast-paced world where we can easily place a higher priority on achieving goals than on enjoying each day. But at some point in life don’t we all have an epiphany that even though our days are filled with things to do, we are missing out on life?

Doing is a short-term undertaking, being is a lifelong endeavor. When you focus on who you could become instead of what you can produce, you wind up  getting even more done. Hopefully this book will help you unlock the potential you already possess to be perseverant, selfless, adventurous, and even slow. It will give you a new perspective on what it means to really live. In the end you will come away with a deeper understanding about how fulfilling life is when you can just be.”

So until tomorrow….Hamlet contemplated the age old question of doing over being and the futility of “listing” rather than “living”…he, too, wanted to know “To be or not to be?”  That really is the question, isn’t it…life is only fulfilled with being…doing’s come and go leaving little memory of their existence.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Will keep you updated on Brooke and Ted as I hear…left for Mount Pleasant yesterday afternoon to keep Eva Cate and Jake over night and get them ready for pre-school and day camp this morning. John and Mandy are at a business conference in John’s field of work in Florida.

Katie, the babysitter is coming on duty until I return at the end of the week. We all have to find time to squeeze being in don’t we? But let’s “be” prayerful for others, like Brooke, going through tough times.

The flowers I left behind yesterday….

Urgent: Ambika, our dear loyal blog reader, texted me yesterday in response to the blog post about the metaphor of rain to plants and God’s love pouring on us. The area of India where Ambika lives is going through a drastic drought….not an “inconvenience” like the off and on one in the lowcountry but a three month drought leaving livestock and people literally dying of thirst.

Read Ambika’s message below and then let’s all pray urgently for God’s love and rain for India and Ambika and her loved ones!

ambikasur says:

Hi Becky… Yeah I know it’s been a long time since I wrote to you😁.. Today’s blog has driven me home… I need all of ur special prayers for God’s love here in my hometown as well (chennai, India)..

We have been experiencing extreme drought of rain since almost 3 months now and the climate is getting extremely hot down here… To be honest, we r facing water scarcity and gradually famine is on the rise… People living especially in the rural areas are praying crying to God for rain

… Life hasn’t been easy for us too… Many of them are dying thirsty… I don’t mean to upset you Becky, by God’s grace we are absolutely fine… But I’m sure you get the point… We need ur prayers and God’s love has to reach us too….
Hope you all are doing well… Loads of love n prayers….

*Hot-line prayers for you Ambika, your loved ones, and all of India affected by this terrible drought.

*Before I left for Mt. Pleasant yesterday…Luke and Chelsey returned from their canoe trip along the Ashley River. I heard some squeals in the front yard and ran outside…a little bird, on its first attempt to fly, had landed in the water near their canoes, earlier in the day and was drowning…they put it in the canoe and brought it home.

It got away and tried to fly but was still having problems…it was clinging to the brick on the side of my house….quivering with fright…Luke rescued it again…I got some bird seed and gave them and they were going to try to feed it and get it stronger before the next attempt to fly.

Not only did they save this bird…but a baby squirrel fell out of a tree into their canoe also…they put it on the paddle and got it back on a branch of the tree over leaning the river. A busy day for nature’s heroes. Does anybody recognize what type bird this is?

About Becky Dingle

I was born a Tarheel but ended up a Sandlapper. My grandparents were cotton farmers in Laurens, South Carolina and it was in my grandmother’s house that my love of storytelling began beside an old Franklin stove. When I graduated from Laurens High School, I attended Erskine College (Due West of what?) and would later get my Masters Degree in Education/Social Studies from Charleston Southern. I am presently an adjunct professor/clinical supervisor at CSU and have also taught at the College of Charleston. For 28 years I taught Social Studies through storytelling. My philosophy matched Rudyard Kipling’s quote: “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” Today I still spread this message through workshops and presentations throughout the state. The secret of success in teaching social studies is always in the story. I want to keep learning and being surprised by life…it is the greatest teacher. Like Kermit said, “When you’re green you grow, when you’re ripe you rot.”
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Getting on the Right List

  1. bcparkison says:

    Prayers for Ambika and her people. Seem like everything is either too dry or too wet and we totally at the mercy of God our Father.

  2. Beverly Dufford says:

    Prayers that God will send rain to the hurting people of India. Also praying for Brooke and Ted. It is hard enough to have surgery close to your home, but It must be so hard to be away and in the hospital. Becky, have fun with those grands. Our children are like the icing on our cake, but the grands are like the sprinkles, chocolate drops, cherries etc. on top. It is so fun to be a part of their lives as they grow, but maybe it is because I’m old, but those years go so fast. Colby, my youngest grand, is now a senior. When did that happen? A ninth grader maybe, but Whoa! a Senior? No way. So remember this and double up on the fun with your grands this week, Becky.

    • Becky Dingle says:

      But what a grand you have for your youngest…they broke the mold with precious Colby! Prayers Prayers for Ambika….and Ted’s surgery revealed a partial hip replacement instead of a whole…very encouraging.

Leave a Reply