The unexamined life is not worth living. – Socrates
I had no crystal clear idea what I stood for nor what direction I wanted to take my life. Tough questions frightened me. So did the truth. I became medicated and distracted with work and having fun. Years ago I set out to change this – it’s still a work in progress.
The challenge is, we are too afraid to choose, so we talk and think like this:.
“By and large, humans squander their lives with I’m gonna, I will when, soon as, next week, next year, when the kids…, when I retire, soon as the job slows down, this Fall, starting New Year’s Day, blah, blah, blah…”
This is why death is mostly sad, when in reality, it ought to be one of the most glorious times of our lives.
(scroll down to view yesterday’s post, or click here to move to my next blog)
This is what we thought October 2008, just over a year ago.
Our beloved Canine Son, Carter, a nine-year old Yellow Lab, was very sick.
Our Vet spotted an unusual sore in the roof of Carter’s mouth during his routine annual exam two months prior.
The sore ate a hole in the roof of his mouth at an alarming rate – what seemed literally overnight. In hindsight, maybe we panicked.
We honestly thought that Carter may not see another weekend and we quickly made arrangements for “one last trip” to our favorite Family vacation spot, Sanibel Island.
We talked with our son (eight) about death. We talked about our favorite Carter memories. We talked about what we’d miss the most about Carter.
We said goodbye to Carter.
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
Carter is still with us. He still struggles with the complications from the hole when he drinks and eats, but overall, it’s a miracle he’s still here.
There certainly is Joy in birth and obviously Joy in being born. Right?
In the past 30 days, I’ve been exposed to nearly one dozen deaths. And these deaths have involved people close to me, or people close to people I’m close to. Ya with me?
Just yesterday, a good friend told me how peaceful the death of her family member was.
It started with tragic news, and there was little time to accept and deal with the impending reality.
And yet in the end, she spoke of it being Peaceful. Joyful.
Perhaps, with a little (or a lot) planning, death will be something we don’t fear, but something we view as simply part of life. Not to be feared, but to be embraced.