Umbrella

It's springtime and I have forgotten how much it rains in the spring time.

Whenever it rains I always look for my umbrella but then I remember that I left my umbrella in my car and question to myself why in the world I would leave it in there since my car isn't in a garage.

Anyways, umbrellas are a recent symbol of my life and here's why:

When it rains you use an umbrella to protect yourself from getting wet. So you open up the umbrella and put it over your head and if you follow those directions you should stay mostly dry. Everything under the umbrella is enveloped by the umbrella.

Now imagine the umbrella is a representative of your personality or identity and now ask yourself,
"What should be the main label of that umbrella?"
"What should envelope me at the core of my being?"
"What should be the center of me as a whole person?"

For me, I came to the conclusion that the umbrella of my life should be my spirituality. By spirituality, I mean essentially my relationship with God and the effects of that on my character or being. I found that at the center of everything I do should be spirituality. Every activity should be enveloped or defined around my spirituality. My identity should be rooted in my spirituality.

Everything else should fall under the umbrella.

So, I found that I do not always live my life this way. In fact, I seem to have multiple "umbrellas" at times. I define myself differently depending on the situation. When interacting with girls I defined myself by my abilities or assets. When I drove I defined myself by my skills and knowledge of the road. When eating I defined myself by self-control and smart habits. When playing sports I defined myself by being a leader and an all around good sport while still being good at it.

A lot of it was a pride thing.

And I can't say I am all better now or that I have drastically improved my life since I came to the "Umbrella Theory" but I will say that it is good to at least acknowledge it in my life and be able to remember it at times. I am nowhere near getting a solid grasp at it but changing how you view things takes time, prayer, and humility.

As I write this it is 2:00am and there is a cool breeze flowing through the window. In the sky there is lightning, some thunder, but no rain. Now I imagine it in a spiritual sense, and I think of heaven; and that it must be picture day and it is beautiful. Angels are getting there picture taken with every flash, and no one is crying because they have to dress up, or smile with braces, but rather everyone is applauding because everyone is making funny faces in the camera.