I was told a good one today by a Methodist minister from Tennessee. It has to do with a pendulum.
In life, we resemble a pendulum, swinging from side to side. We go from one extreme to the other. As the pendulum reaches one side, it slows as it climbs upward and spends some time there before it completely changes direction, going back the other way. When it reaches the other side, it again slows down and spends some time before heading back. At the point that the pendulum is balanced, at the center, is where it goes by with the greatest speed and spends the least time.
We live our lives like a roller coaster with great highs and lows. Just like a pendulum, we reach one end, and then things start changing and we head the other way. We have times when things are bad, and eventually things will get better, then good. And when we reach the peak of that, we start heading back the other way. Things are not as good, or things are going wrong, or things are bad again. But then it will turn around and get better. It is the optimist that knows things will turn around and get better, and the pessimist that knows when times are good, that something will louse it up. Each a swing of the pendulum.
But where we should be is at the center, balanced between good and bad, happy and sad, highs and lows. We strive for balance, but how often do we stay in balance? Once we find balance, it seems like something comes along to change that. In fact the point of balance always seems short lived, the pendulum passing through there at the highest speed on the downward fall. Where as we reach one end, and it seems like we are there for a long time, the pendulum keeps going upwards until it stops and reverses direction.
So maybe what we should be doing is working on slowing the pendulum and limiting its range so it spends more time at the point of balance.