Editing

I awoke this morning in the dark early hours and was prompted (troubled, inspired, urged) to get up and edit the essay I wrote and posted yesterday.  I had not followed my own advice to let things settle or germinate at least a day before making a final decision to submit. 

 

As I reread what I had written, I immediately noticed that I had left out the pivotal paragraph—the purpose for which the piece was written and upon which it had, to that point, been pointing!   It has now be inserted and is the ninth paragraph from the top.

 

Since I have now brought up the topic of ‘editing’ let me expand the thought a bit before shutting down and going back to bed. 

The notion of ‘editing’ can more generally be applied to life. 

 

How fortunate we are that we can go back and correct the mistakes we have made that have/can/will cause us trouble down the road.  Many people do not know that or believe it.  Let me explain.

Until we ‘edit’ we may/will suffer the consequences of regrettable choices or behavior if we let the mistake persist.  In religious terms (everything for me ultimately comes down to ‘religious terms’ because religious response colors everything I do in life—indeed life itself has religious purpose and meaning) it means repentance. 

Repentance means stopping up the breach, retracing one’s steps on the road wrongly taken (which often takes help), and then taking the right way once again.  Repentance is the most hopeful word in the English language.  Every person who tries a weight-loss diet is ‘repenting.’ So is every smoker who tries to stop, every person who turns off a mindless television program and starts to do something productive or every person who says ‘I’m sorry.’

 

Just about everything we do requires editing, repentance, cleaning-up, polishing, renewal--which all take work.  And just now I'm tired of working.  Which reminds me…. 

I’m going back to sleep.