Tag: Life

July 4, 2019

It all started with a dream, didn’t it?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…

But even that grand dream was limited.
It didn’t include women.
Or those who were enslaved.
Or Native Americans.
Or so many others.
Including wave after wave of immigrants.
Who risked all.
To get here!
To be a part of this grand dream.
Immigrants including my great, great grandparents.
And maybe yours as well.
Maybe even just your parents.

We have never been the nation we imagined and dreamed that could be.
We have continually fallen short.
Sometimes woefully short.
Sometimes by just a bit.
But we have kept working on it.
Doing what we can to make today better than yesterday.
And the reality we know closer to the dream we imagine.
Working on it then like we are working on it today.

For all our failings
And shortfalls
And greed
And short-sightedness
It is this dream which makes America great.
And not tanks in the street.
Or soldiers marching in step.
Or jets streaking overhead.
Those are a dime a dozen.
But that dream!
All are created equal.
Unalienable rights.
Life. Liberty. Happiness.
Liberty and justice for all.
That is worth holding onto.
And making better.
And celebrating today.

To Everything There Is A Season

My reflection from a recent funeral service…

To everything there is a season
And a time for every purpose under heaven.

I learned those words from Pete Seeger’s song Turn! Turn! Turn!
before I ever knew they were in the Bible.
Many of those times of our lives listed in these verses are fluid.
We move back and forth between…
Planting and sowing.
Rending and tearing.
War and peace.
Those moments overlap and ebb and flow so we don’t notice or name when one ends and the other begins.
But…
The wonder of birth and the mystery and sadness of death.
Become carved in stone.
Whether literally
Or in our heart, mind and soul.
For John it was June 2, 1935.
And, May 21, 2018.
A time to be born and a time to die.

Over the last couple of days, knowing both you and I were going to be here today, I have sat with these words from Ecclesiastes and allowed them to be a part of my thinking and praying and being wondering what they might have to say to us in a moment like this. As I reflected on these verses I remembered a simple book that was given to me a number of years ago. The title of the book was The Dash. As in that simple line between the date on which we were born and the date on which we die. A simple line which represents the entirety of our life. Those everyday moments and days and years which add up to a lifetime. Today, we gather to remember and to celebrate and to give thanks for that dash that represents John’s life. But no matter how well we remember or what stories we share, we will only scratch the surface of that dash. His life.

But, this is also a moment, I think, to wonder about you and me?
There is some part of moments like this when we gather to remember and to celebrate the life of someone we knew and loved and respected which also causes us step back and consider our own lives.
Who we are?
What is important?
What values will shape and guide your life each and every day.
Maybe this is one of those moments.
Your dash…
My dash…
Is still being written.
By the choices we make.
By the values by which we live.
By those concerns we stand up for and speak up for and give some portion of our lives to.
What would you like your dash to say?

The Psalmist wrote:
For all our days pass away.
Our years come to an end like a sigh.
The days of our lives are seventy years.
Or perhaps eighty if we are strong.
And, then this line…
So teach us to number our days that we might gain heart of wisdom.

As we remember and celebrate and give thanks for the life and witness of John, may we also be mindful of the days of our lives and use them well so when our time comes and the second date is added to the right side of the dash, that we have left the world God has entrusted to our care and keeping better because of our presence and work in it.

Ash Wednesday

As I get older I am more and more aware of my own mortality.
The ages of those whose lives are summed up in the obituaries come closer and closer to my own age. And, today the liturgy for Ash Wednesday reminds us From dust we came. To dust we shall return.
I understand that.
And, that will be, but…

The but is while I understand the dust to dust part. I am not sure I believe it.
I am not sure because I believe that life, even my life, came from something more than dust.
There was love.
And dreams.
And hope.
And intimacy.
And, I believe my life will go to something more than dust when I die.
The dust to dust part may be true for my body.
But I am not sure it is true of my life.
Do my dreams which already live in tomorrow live on in the tomorrow after that? Does the hope which sustains me today linger into tomorrow? Does love push past the boundaries of what we name as life and death?

I don’t know the how or the why,
But I believe my life and your life and all life taps into what I can only describe as Life with a capital “L.” That Something More which some call soul and others call spirit and I call ???? Maybe all this is just wishful thinking on my part. My own longing that my life will continue even after that moment when my body stops.
But, I sense it is true.
And so today will hold onto that as well as the smear of ashes across my forehead.

I Hope…

I visited my Mom this week.
Her life is winding down.
I sat by the side of her bed and we talked.
Small talk about the weather.
Remembering trips we took as a family.
Asking if she would like a sip of water.
In the silence between the conversations her gaze would be someplace else and I would look at her wondering where she was and what she was thinking. When I interrupted the silence and asked, her eyes would refocus on me and she would seemed surprised by the question. “I was just looking at the blankets stacked on the chair.” She said.

While I will never know
I hope, in those moments, she is someplace else.
Someplace beyond her hospital style bed.
Someplace beyond the walls of the skilled nursing facility which is now her home.

I hope she is someplace surrounded by the memories of my Dad.
And, the love they shared.
And, the years they had together.
And, their standing together to meet the challenges and joy of raising three sons and going to college and receiving degrees and fashioning careers and providing for their family.

I hope she is surrounded by memories of her children and grandchildren and her great-grandson. I hope their voices and laughter and presence fill her heart.

I hope she is lost in the love which surrounds her.

Advent 2017

Into life as it is.
Exactly as it is.
A million details.
A conversation with a friend who is dying.
The headlines in the news.
Fixing dinner.
Worrying about aging parents.
Never forgetting my children.
Or my grandson.
Into my life as it is.
Exactly as it is.
Too busy to see.
Too distracted to notice.
God comes to be God with us.
Christmas.

Today

Today I will spend the most precious thing I have.
The moments of this day.
There is no saving them.
No time bank account.
No storing them away for when I have more energy.
Or more creativity.
Or, more wisdom.
Today, just as I am right now, each moment is spent.
For something.
For someone.
May I do my best to spend my time well.

Tags

Several things I believe: