Be You Very Well

In one of those strange arrangements of Providence, this post is about what occurs after the marching on–which I wrote about in my last post (a long time ago)–is done. When we have fought the good fight and finished the race, as my 100 year old neighbor just did, we pass on. For those of us Christians still marching this is truly one of life’s most challenging transitions because we are both grieving a loss and celebrating a gain, just not our own. Last year we lost a truly dear man when Grandpa passed on the day after I wrote that last post. He was one of the most kind and gentle souls you could ever meet and his absence has been keenly felt by all of us, especially Grandma.

At that same time a dear friend from my young child-rearing days across the country passed on due to cancer and my favorite Wal-Mart greeter, with whom I shared a special rapport, also passed. It was hard to lose each of these special people but I rejoiced in their gain. And now our kind mayor, who is our next door neighbor, has lost his mother, our across the street neighbor, at the ripe age of 100 and so the cycle continues.

Birth, life, death. Starting, struggling to adjust to this wildly new environment, struggling to figure things out (especially all those big people who make weird sounds with their mouths!), and then going along at your own pace through the ups and downs of life (perhaps like those frustrating times as a teen) until major milestones occur, such as graduation, perhaps marriage or a religious vocation, the possibility of children and grandchildren, that–I’m told–underappreciated second half of life, and then the winding down of things if we are blessed with the gift of a long life like my neighbor’s.

I’m not sure what all kinds of events will be passing by in 2014 but I imagine there will be more people passing on. I hope and pray that I can treat each day as a gift and do the best I can to live it in the present moment and not fret over the past or worry over the future, two things I’m continuing to work on as my life marches on.

May this day find you fighting the good fight until the time comes to pass on to the best that’s yet to come.