I think about how society has changed. (There have been lots of inventions since 1886.) But I also think about how much hasn't changed. In 1886, people were looking for ways to "make life simpler", and here we are over 120 years later with complicated lives. We are all still on a search for belonging, meaning, passion. We are still looking for ways to impact the world, and to pay our bills. Timely issues change, but human issues don't.

On top of this house there are two sets of dual chimneys. This one is the stack on the right of the first image.

The fist time I stepped out on that roof, I looked over the housetops and treetops and imagined everything that this chimney has watched through the last century. Somehow looking with its weathered-brick eyes I can see more clearly in my own life. Keep my eyes on what will last. Keep my vision past the horizon of my days on earth. This chimney has looked over this town longer than any of her residents. Samuel had the house and the chimney built. It has surpassed him.

I want to leave a legacy. I know not everyone thinks like that. And I like to hang with people who do. I can feel the direction of my life towards something that will transcend my own horizon.

We can do beautiful things. We can build magnificent things. But what are we doing that is transcendent?

When I am most engaged in my life it is when I am being a part of something that is bigger than myself. I want to throw myself into great things. Lasting things. Eternal things. Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. Because one day I will wake up here and before the next sunrise I will be in the arms of my Abba. What will I have left behind?

What about you?