Just heard a mournful freight train whistle. The train is rocking and squeaking down the track, it’s whistle echoing in the humid, thick sultry southern air. Trains horns always sound sad to me, when they bellow in lone wales. The older steam engine trains, happily chugging down the rails, had a happy cheerful train whistle.

I remembered a quote I loved about trains, had to search for it. The quote, from Walden by Thoreau, is about how life runs on a set of spiritual railroad tracks. The quote reads, “Let us spend one day as deliberately as nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without perturbation; let company come and company go, let the bells ring and the children cry, — determined to make a day of it.”

How wonderful it would be to live as nature, just accepting the days as they come — enjoying the sunshine with the thunderstorms, patiently waiting for the winter ice to thaw, smiling through the oppressive heat waves. Not worrying about the mosquitoes, yellow jackets, and the dirt daubers. I think some of us do let a tiny mosquito wing ruin our day, a minor distraction that should just be ignored throws our day into disrepair. Makes me think of what Chief used to tell me, when I’d complain about the children running around too loud and squabbling. He’d say, “Mama, just be grateful they are heathy enough to carry on.” He’d just keep on reading and I’d keep on refereeing. I think he understood mosquito wings and nutshells.

Life has a way of making its own path and things don’t always line up like we’d want them to but we learn to keep going. We stumble over the nutshells that drop in our path and look for God’s guidance as we travel. Insignificant and mindless distractions take away from the beauty of the day only if we let them. Guess Thoreau was trying to tell us, in a literary way using the train as a metaphor, that life is a glorious ride if we just take each day as it comes and accept the beauty in that day. Course they won’t always be sunny days ‘cause life has clouds and rain and thunder and wind.

We need to learn to accept what happens and make the best of it. As my mama would tell me, “This too shall pass.” Nutshells and mosquito wings cannot derail a train and they should not derail us. We need to set our priorities straight and live our lives deliberately and intentionally with God. Don’t waste a precious moment of life on mosquito wings and empty nutshells. God will sweep the mosquito wings and nut shells from our path.

“A man who walks with God always gets to his destination.” ― Henrietta C. Mears