Saturday, October 26, 2013

The Breath of Life

When the rhyme and the reason of life alludes us, we project our troubles on demons and grant our successes as the products of a righteous God. But the rain falls on every man.

Every breath brings us closer to the reality of our finite existence, but we savor each heartbeat and move forward, clinging to the hopes and dreams that pass our way—short triumphs and accolades, love and happiness when it comes around.  This love that carries us forward is what we cling to; love holds us to the earth, but also sets our feet on flights of fancy--love is infinitely more than a romantic notion—it breaks the chains of loneliness around our hearts.

What separates us from the beasts? This soul we possess is more than ghost and spirit; it is the power that gives us feet to run from a troubling past into the arms of a promising future.  It is the power that makes us cry at a soft melody and reminisce at times of past triumphs never to be revisited.  This soul gives us pause at a painted landscape and helps us contemplate each new sunrise.
 
I was there when my grandfather passed. I saw his spirit leave with his breath.  The energy and warmth of life left with him as well.  To where it passed is the mystery that we seek to understand.  But that spirit lives on in the living.  It lives on while we breathe and contemplate our existence.  It lives on in the soft embrace of the ones we love.  It lives on in the school children that laugh on playgrounds and in the smiles of proud parents as they rock their babies to sleep. 


This mystery of life and spirit is a gift to mankind by a graceful God, who knows the value of life and grants it to us daily in small measures that hide in plain sight. This is the life we have been given; all it’s good and bad and pain and promises are a part of the hand we are dealt. May we play it with all sincerity and carry the torch of life and love till our spirit escapes us, bound for destinations unknown.  

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