A GOOD LIFE

 

I have lived a good life. I have loved and been loved by a good woman; a woman who deeply loved and delighted in the children we brought into the world. We delighted in them [and in their children] together. I have found forgiveness and peace and rest in my soul in Jesus Christ, through Whom I have discovered my atonement with our Creator, Who is Love---Love beyond all human love; the Source of all Love and goodness and wisdom and freedom. I have been liberated from fear and the “worries and cares of the world and the desire for riches” as He so eloquently described it. I have known deep and loyal friendships. I am thankful with a deep and growing gratitude. I know that death is my “final victory”--a sometimes daunting doorway to new adventures—another birth. My soul has been awakened to beauty: the unspeakable beauty of womanhood, children, and the infinite beauty of nature. I have wept in grief of all the sorrows of the world and laughed til tears flowed from my eyes. I have helped some brothers and sisters carry their loads down the road, and I have been carried in the arms of human compassion---compassion that has penetrated the wellsprings of my soul from which tears of joy flowed like pure healing waters. I have seen, with eyes clarified by the sincere pursuit of Truth, the colossal battle of good and evil, and have come to rest in the assurance of the ultimate triumph of goodness [if we all do our part!]. Christ, the Cross, and the Resurrection are the supreme icons of this Reality. It is very fitting that we should demarcate all human history by His time on the earth. I have come into a deepening awareness of, and have tried to articulate [I am trying now] the ineffable goodness of life and consciousness. The very fact of our consciousness, our ability to communicate, love, laugh, create, empathize, etc., should be a source of unending amazement and overflowing gratitude. We are a compendium of countless miracles. Every one of the multi-trillion cells composing our bodies is a miracle—every organ; every system working together to maintain our life and consciousness. And we are at one with the earth and universe, which are miracles beyond comprehension. We should be dancing!