Someone close to my heart recently passed through a significant life milestone. As I reflected on the pictures, posts, and wishes that were publically poured out, I realized there is one thing I hope never happens; may I never forget the ways my life has been touched and blessed! With each lost memory, the value we recognize in life is diminished.
In this particular case, I am a better person for having shared memories and taking the steps we have. Although we do not see each other like we used to, my heart remembers and continues to be stronger and more hope filled because of those memories. The reminders reinforce some of life’s great truths.
A smile and laugh can never be undone. When I have been gifted with the laughter and smiles of others, my heart is infused with hope, strengthen by faith, and jumped started by the energy within the gift. The outcome that stays with me is the sense of being lifted up and towards something wonderfully better.
The ability to engage, communicate, and dance together is a lesson that cannot be erased. In the onslaught of uncertainty, darkness, and pain that often comes with life, each touch of kindness, the memories of another be fully present, and sharing a fun moment (a dance by another name) continues to teach me how to live fully, completely, and totally in the moment.
Creativity can be taught but often it spontaneously emerges from a soul grounded and living in truth. Shared creative moments are reminders and examples of life’s important values modeled, shared and left with me in the form of memories. I find myself looking back and to the present with laughter, tears, and a sense of what is always possibility.
My prayer, for myself and another is a psalm; “O my soul, bless God, don’t forget a single blessing!” (Psalm 103.2) It is good to have the memories that I do. Even as I hope for the chance to have more, I look to the dawn. We are alive and hope lives on.
