We are born with an expiration date stamped on our hearts. Sadly, some people die before their time because of accident, or violence, or long-term trauma that wears a body and spirit down. But we all know that we will die, from the moment we find out pet turtle or goldfish no longer moving about as they did only yesterday. We are born in time. We live in time. We will die in time. It’s just, I don’t know, more pleasant, or more convenient, to imagine oneself as perpetually five years old, or 10 or maybe 27, or even 39. Until death is staring one in the face. An accident, a life-threatening illness, being caught in a crossfire we didn’t anticipate… Anything like this could wake us up. Or maybe not.
The month of November, with All Saints and All Souls Days, along with Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day or the anniversary of the passing of one dear to us, can all serve as reminders of our inherent mortality – if we let them. Death is one of the very few certainties for living creatures, a fact, not to be feared. Death has the power to give us the gift of perspective. We are not here forever, moving from day to day.
Living lightly the awareness of death can free us to choose to live more fully, more boldly, more openly. We don’t need to be constantly looking over our shoulder, trying to dodge what might be. We can let go of any regrets for what wasn’t, won’t or can’t be. What God wants for us is to live life wholeheartedly, now, loving with all we’ve got, giving ourselves and being good to ourselves, making our world a little bit better, a more human place for all.
Jana Buckley says:
In all things be thankful, can be a hard thing when things don’t seem to be on the right track. Yet that is when we draw closer to Him, in our very humbling need. It seems when things are good we often can forget to stop and be thankful.
a43dcb5_wp says:
It definitely is difficult. We cannot see things from God’s perspective, so we can tend to drift into self-interest as our guide for when to give thanks.
Bob says:
This is my favorite Timblog so far. How we, especially in the more commercial, materialist worlds, avoid facing the fact of death makes our lives incomplete and full of needless worries. The greatest mistake is identifying so thoroughly with one’s body, personality and possessions that the end of these wordly items seems the end of our very being. We have lost our connesction with our core, our soul, our piece of divinity. Being able to reach out for that connection in the midst of our daily lives, for a moment to breath deeply the air of our essence and get perspecitve on the relative importance (unimportance) of our egos, takes a conscious effort. We allign ourselves with that which is holy. I believe our human race is moving more and more in this positive, loving direction. There is conflict with those who live in fear of losing the things which they identify
with. Thank you, Tim, for being such a loving, thought-provoking brother.
a43dcb5_wp says:
Thanks Bob. The nature of hope has something imperceptible about it. We don’t necessarily see what God has coming at us in love ahead of time. We trust that good will come.