A Simple Celebration of Life

Yesterday, I had lunch with a UCLA professor at the Faculty Center, and we had a delight time. He’s a fascinating man, with a 40-year teaching career and no end in sight. He teaches French literature and over the years has developed some theories about the origin of language called “generative anthropology” … which I will NOT try to explain, since it’s all very new to me.

But the purpose of this little note is the simple celebration of life – as we said yesterday, so many good and decent folk trying their levelheaded best to transcend the dark side and make something of themselves, and help a few others along the way.

As you read these words today, you’ve already made any number of decisions about the day, the quality of your life, and those you love.

Think of the LORD's Prayer today as a simple paradigm of basic living: Our Father, who art in heaven  (say the entire prayer before reading on) …
ü     A thought about God – that God is good, and I’m better for opening that part of my life.

ü     A thought about a better world – governed not by greed and the lust for power, but governed by grace and compassion. And I'm a part of that project!

ü     A thought about provisioning – that God will provide what I need, and sometimes, even what I want.

ü     A thought about forgiveness – primarily to set me free from the bitter hold of old memories; clear the decks, so to speak, so I can get on with my life.

ü     A thought about making it through the worst of times – how many hard times I've come through in my days, and I'll make it the rest of the way.

ü     A thought that in the end, it all belongs to God, including me and those I love.

A simple celebration of life! And who knows what fascinating people you’ll meet today. Pay attention to God, and pay attention to everyone around you.

Three Things ...

Amazing things happen when I meet new people.

Recently, an artist, a tai chi instructor and thinker-about-life (Tommi) gave me three things she teaches:
Let go
Keep it simple
Flexible

I grabbed a piece of paper to write ‘em down.

Let go … wow! … I sometimes hang on to old idea, memory, hurt … I turn it over and over again, examining it as if it were a piece of fine glass, when what I really need to do is wrap them it and throw it into the trash like fish gone bad.

Keep it simple … life can be reduced to some pretty basic things: love consistently, forgive quickly, remember God, you are always more than you think you are, and appreciate the world around you.

Flexible … change with changing circumstances. Nothing stands still, always something. I wonder how much time I’ve spent wishing things were different. Flexibility allows us to discover the good, the promise, the possibility, in everything, even the hard stuff. A good shortstop never waits for the ball to come to him, though it sometimes does, but is ready to go to the ball.

Thanks Tommi for putting these three things together for me.