The Coach is In…
Back in December of last year I wrote a post, The Life We Live. It was about two of my good friends who had dementia and their declining health. One of them passed away this past week. I had the honor of leading his funeral service.
I remember the quote I shared in the post from Natalie Babbitt, “Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of the unlived life. You don’t have to live forever; you just have to live.” In this moment it seems like very sound advice for us. I will encourage the same for you and I – LIVE.
At this moment I am choosing to spend time with my grief and not my writing. Instead, I am going to share with you the words of a college classmate and friend. Her words are most insightful for the world in which we live.
Our Human-ness by Lela Hallam Roby
DYING and others’ suffering brings about an interesting behavior in people. Seeing another person suffering awakens the pure Love inside us all inextricably bound to our true inner selves, our souls, fluttering like a trapped butterfly in a jar all the while, so easily ignored. But when the suffering of others touches us, that Love, that God, streams through our pores like intense, bright noonday sun through the cracks and holes in an old building and can’t be held back. We ignore the imperfections and feel only the warmth, see only the light, and are compelled to empathy, compassion, tenderness.
Death brings us back to the knowledge of the truth of what living should be, back to remembrance of the godhead, where what REALLY matters, what’s REALLY important is recognizing our faults and imperfect “human-ness”, that we’re all really trying to do the best we can and forgiving each other for our imperfections.
Thank you, Lela.
Toward a better you…
Jim