People may think they know the storyline of your life by judging its externals: you're a single Dad, or a widow; you have a chronic disease, or you lost a child. According to society's standards, your life may have all the makings of a Shakespearean tragedy, - "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Maybe you've cried enough and raged enough to believe that's true. That society is right. That you're too battered and broken by incomprehensible tragedies for life to ever be more than a sad struggle. But you have the power within you to make life beautiful. Meaningful. Joyful. Because you have the power to invest each moment with meaning, each special relationship with incredible joy. You have the power to assert that your life is not a tragedy but a triumph. You have the power to take down walls and dare to love again. You have the power to say "no" to addictions and face the sadness that sends you straight into the arms of addiction to escape it all. You can choose to triumph, to rise instead of sink, to weep fully, to love fully, as both are the joy and the price of being human. Life is a triumph when we can savor every small pleasure as the glorious gift it is, can realize that God promises to give us life, life to the fullest, and life can be found and treasured anywhere and everywhere. I savor those moments that my mother and I wink at each other as I feed her. She has little speech left, so each exchanged wink speaks volumes of shared love and the joy of each other's presence. I remember holding tight to the joy each time I hugged and kissed my son the last year of his life, realizing how precious each warm, soft touch was because it could be the last. And, one time it was - but he will always be my much-loved son, a gift. The gift is the mere fact of our existence. No one can take your life from you, no scientist can yet create the rare wonder of a human life. Even if those we love die, no one can take memories from you; they are yours to possess, making you rich as any King or Queen. | Your inner attitude towards your life is yours alone to create. Plunge deep into your deepest, truest self, and meet God there, united with your soul, ready to empower you to live your life to the fullest. Let your eyes caress the living art of sunrises and sunsets, your backyard tree, the wings of the birds splashing madly in your birdbath. The wings of a plane flashing high across the golden face of the sun. Listen to the bright liturgical notes of children's and teens' voices as they lazily bike and zig zag on skateboards down your street. The whisper of a relative or friend saying "I love you" in your ear. The mournful wail of a train whistle, beckoning you to take a trip. The glorious sonata in a concert hall or the blues and jazz in a bar, holy as any hymn an angel ever sang. Taste pierogis and quesadillas, lasagna and corned beef and cabbage - manna from Heaven. Taste infant's kisses full of warm formula. Lick melting ice cream cones. Lick the salt off your upper lip as you sweat lazing on the beach. Smell your husband's spicy aftershave, sacred as incense. The lush perfume of lilacs, orchids, roses. The pungent smell of your wet, frisky dog. Hold your world, every inch of it, close to your heart, the bitter-sweet of it, the rough and smooth of it, every moment fresh from God's hands to you. And love it all, be thankful, because to be human is to live life to the heights and depths and know it for the miracle it is. And that's the story's triumphant end - recognizing and embracing the miracle. Birth to death. And life beyond. |
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
May 2021
Categories
|