WHAT DOES MAKE HUMAN MORE HUMAN..... LIFE MORE LIFE?

My two girls and I were at a wake yesterday. In a wake after going through the necessary courtesies, I choose to sit somewhere unobtrusively be with my thoughts in prayer or just watch the moving tapestry of life around death.

Life is fragile. Short. Fleeting. So what are we doing with it?

We hone our talents to prepare living our dreams which we strain so hard to reach. We also get into relationships and give it the best of who we are. We try to be good with the thought that God will be so pleased and take us into heaven someday. We get into physical programs or regimen to tone our bodies.. make it healthier, younger or tougher. We get into academic pursuits to beef up our intellectual vigor. We continually raise the bar of achievement with the thought that bigger or greater is better. All with the aim of making life well worth living.

All well and good. We carve out numerous successes from it. We become content.

But my aunt would say '.. Those things for which we drive ourselves to acquire or achieve are needs and wants personified.' 'Built-in', she says, 'for what is a human without them.'  But the so-called threads weaving in and out of our tapestry is loosely woven yet.. lacking some more thread.

So what does make human more human.. and life more life?

Maybe somewhere out there somebody else of higher mind-greater thought has found the answer. Let me know. Meantime......

- I will pay more attention to the birds singing in the treetops. Call up my dear friend often and not only when I want something. Buy gorgeous fresh flowers for no occasion at all. Express love in tangible ways to family often. Pass it forward without prejudice or bias. Take my morning walks and savor nature's warm embrace. Enjoy the moment. Eat ice cream from a cone licking it like a 5 yr old does. Be generous with praise, encouragement. Speak freely of words which build up people and not destroy. Not wait to be nice nor for the occasion to be nice. Be nice everyday. Be more understanding and forgiving of flaws in myself and in others. Be real. Pray for others more.. even if they don't need it. Tho I think everybody needs a prayer at one time or another.

I remember mom tell me this before.... 'a man is not just a mind, heart, and body... but essentially a soul'. And this, I guess, is the missing thread ... ofttimes neglected in weaving our tapestry of life.


There is the nice prayer I so dearly love. And I know you have come across this before too ......

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Blessings to everyone on this fine Wednesday. :-)