Life
is Precious
“…everything
in this mysterious journey points to our appreciation that life is precious. In
fact, the word appreciate means ‘to move toward what is precious.’”
Mark
Nepo (“Returning to the Center;” Parabola, Fall, 2022, p.39; From Surviving
Storms, by Mark Nepo, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2022)
Life is
precious. Think about that for a moment. Life itself is precious. Regardless of
our station in life, regardless of the religion or lack of religion we may
practice, regardless of how smart or how rich or poor we are—life is precious.
When I read this, parts of me want to jump up and start “doing” so that I don’t
waste a single moment that I’m here on planet Earth as a human being. And part
of me thinks I should just experience without “doing.” Go and see things I’ve
never seen, taste things I’ve never tasted, meet people, and pay attention to
beauty in all its forms. Life is precious, so don’t waste it.
Especially
now that I am older and the amount of life that is left for me is shorter than
it once was, wasting it seems almost criminal. Ask yourself, “what are the ways we waste time?” Are we wasting
time when we just sit under the canopy of sky these end-of-summer days,
watching clouds go by, listening to birds sing. There are some butterfly bushes
here that are covered with blossoms and black and yellow swallowtail
butterflies. I love to watch them. Am I wasting time when I walk Liza around
the neighborhood? Is that “doing” enough to qualify as “productive.”
Hopefully,
as we age, we move toward what is precious and away from what is a waste of
time. The kinds of things that are a waste of time, in my world view, are:
arguing over things that no one can change, offending people you love just to
be proven “right,” spending hours in front of the tv or staring at a cell phone
when there is a gorgeous day outside, drinking until you are blind and stupid,
fighting with people you love, demanding that those around you echo your
opinions, treating people with disdain and outright disrespect. Those are a
waste of what is precious, especially if you fail to
examine why you do them, and what that says about you. The answer to that, by
the way, is not outside yourself no matter what it is. So, blame and shame of
someone else for your problems is not the answer. Learning what makes us the
way we are is like peeling back the layers of an onion or the opening of a lotus blossom. It's not a one and done thing.
There are many essential layers to uncover.
Life
gives us a certain amount of time to figure out why we’re here. It flows in one
direction with several twists and loop-de-loops. We are allowed guidance, and we
can ask for help, but the journey is ours to take. It is precious and should be
approached with reverence. You are a child of the God, valuable beyond measure and
so is everyone you encounter on the path regardless of their race, color, creed,
or status. When souls meet, they meet as peers. You and I and that homeless guy
on the street downtown are equally precious in the eyes of the Creator. So don’t
waste your time here. As Mark Nepo suggests, return to the center, to what is most
valuable in you.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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