...dust to dust. Tonight I'll be reminded of my mortality ... of the swiftness of life ... of my transgressions.
No need to remind me of my mortality. Lately, I'll be going about my business and then suddenly I have this impression, or perhaps you could even call it a vision, of my life in relation to the past and the future, and I see so clearly that it's just a blink of eternity's eye. If even that.
I think of all who have gone before me, and those who will come after.
I wonder about my life, if it's made any kind of difference in this world at all. I see that all this stuff we've accumulated and worried about really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
And I do all of that reflecting in one breath, one heartbeat.
In the next, I vow (once again) to make each moment I'm given matter. To not take a single one for granted. I figure that way, I might fall short of the goal, but I'll be closer than if I didn't shoot big.
I'm keeping my stuff, though. Or at least most of it.
Sometimes I wish I didn't think so much.
A reminder of my transgressions ... now, that's probably necessary, and more often than once a year. It ties in with my vow of making each moment matter, of trying to make a difference in this world.
I came across this quote today and I think it's appropriate for the Lenten season. Well, anytime, but now is a good time to start. And of course, I believe it applies to everyone, not just Christians, don't you? Where it says "Christian", just insert "Peaceful"...
If we truly wish to be Christians,
we must love peace,
we must make our own the cause of peace,
we must meditate on the real meaning of peace,
we must conform our minds to the thought of peace.
~Pope Paul VI
Italian pontiff, 20th century
Peace be with you.
