The Movement of Life

Life's Cycle

“Life can be harsh and beautiful by turns. Often it can seem unfair. Why can't the beautiful opening last longer?”

                               Mark Nepo (Seven Thousand Ways to Listen)

Here we were, innocently marking the days of yet another beautiful Christmas and Hanukkah season. Lighting the lights, hanging the tinsel, baking the cookies, and thinking about ways to delight our families with gifts meant just for them. And then disaster struck with the school shootings in Connecticut. Why, you may be wondering, can't we hang on to happiness and peace? Why do things always cycle and change?

As Mark Nepo so artfully points out, this swing between harsh and beautiful is “the rhythm of the universe”. It is God's way of teaching us both to enjoy the blissful moments, and to let them pass without clinging.

There is a gingko tree in my neighbor's yard that each fall turns bright yellow—every leaf is so evenly golden that they seem almost unreal. And then, on one appointed day, all the leaves fall. Breathtaking one minute, bare the next. Such is life.

So many things in nature are this way. I have a gardenia bush in front of my house. In early summer, the fat, white buds swell and open. Let me tell you, there is no fragrance on earth that can compare with a wide-open gardenia. By day two, however, the blooms have drooped and on the third day, they are brown, shriveled knobs. They have their moment of bliss, and then move on.

We have our moments of bliss too. And our moments of sorrow. We accept that this is the movement of life's full circle. The best we can hope for is to make the most of each swing. When life is good, bask in it; and when terrible things happen, allow yourself time to grieve, and then do whatever you can do to make a difference.

We cannot bring back those precious children, nor the ones who died in Aurora, or Blacksburg, or Columbine. We can't assuage the grief of their families or their communities. But we can change the laws that provide ammunition for this kind of carnage. We can develop more security in our schools. We can begin by letting our lawmakers know how we feel, and by doing whatever we can at the local level to make a difference.

Life will continue to swing from light to darkness because that is the way of the world. We will move from grief to joy in time, but we must never again be complacent when it comes to the safety of our children.

                                                 In the spirit,

                                                   Jane