I love running into little articles that engage me, make me think and then encourage me to share what I just learned. It was such an article by Tom Smith that most recently caused this reaction in me. I don’t know Tom Smith. I laughed a bit, because the name sounds like a made-up name, like John Q. Public. But I read that Tom Smith lives in Shiloh, IL. He is married, has kids and three siblings who have all died. He writes this article as a consequence of his last remaining sibling, Sharon, dying. She was 74, so we can guess how old Tom might be.
Early in his article, Smith recognizes that “Dying is a unique and sacred experience…” He then quips that it is not an acceptable sacrifice simply to save our national economy, as some current politicians have claimed. I agree with him when he flatly declares that his death “the state of our economy is not a worthy reason for anyone to die, either by poverty, malnutrition, poor health care or COVID-19.” His sister died of a fairly rare form of cancer, as did the other two siblings. Of course, he is wary that he, too, will face the same sentence.
As he tells his story, I feel like I get to know him and his sister a little bit. The reminds me that we are really an accumulation of our stories. Perhaps life is the chapter of all our stories put together into one long narrative. It does start with “in the beginning” and reaches the last chapter or, perhaps, epilogue with the Latin word, finis or finished. All of us are still writing our story, and that is where I jump into the role of spirituality in my story. I am hoping that spiritual theme is a theme that can be pulled through many of my chapters and become a significant part of my story going forward to the epilogue.
I am touched when Smith tells us, “I want to die as gracefully as possible and that means I must prepare myself for the invasion of this cancer.” I want to die gracefully, too. Smith reminds me that I can prepare for that eventuality. And the preparation has everything to do with what I am thinking, feeling and how I act between then and now. I can shape every new day into a plus, rather than a minus.
Smith gives us a clue what some of this preparation will look like. In the first place, he says “That preparation is intellectual, emotional and spiritual.” It is not simply reading books or praying or just being good. It is a package deal. I can ask myself what I am doing to realize my hope to live well and to die well. Am I reading something that contributes to my development? It might be the Bible or other spiritual literature. Am I growing emotionally? Spending a lifetime in anger seems like a stupid thing to do! Spiritually there is always a positive role for some discipline, like meditating or reflection in some silence during the day.
Smith confesses, “I do not want to die soon.” Me either! I like what he wants to do. “I want to love more, do more, be more and discover more.” Why not? Me, too! He adds a spiritual note that resonates with me. Clearly, he is Christian when he notes, “In this milieu, a resurrected Jesus symbolizes hope and ongoing life, and I need that kind of faith.” This is how he backs into the idea of faith. That is important to me.
Smith talks about being grateful for his family and all they had together. I do take the gratitude thing seriously. It has been part of the last couple books I have written. I do feel grateful, but I can do better. I want to be grateful for all that has been. Even more, I want to live my remaining life so that I can be grateful for the whole thing.
Smith begins the end of his reflection with this last, long sentence. “Reminders of our inevitable death are always opportunities to live more fully now, to love better, to serve more, to do what we know is right, to show we are grateful for family and friends, to worship our God, to smile at our neighbors.” I appreciate his insight that reminders of our death are opportunities. Most of us don’t see it that way. These reminders tell us we can live more fully now. I know this; I want now to learn how to do it. Reminders of death are opportunities to love more. I am sure most folks I know what to love more and to love better. Like all virtues, love is just an idea until you actually do it.
Reminders of death are opportunities to serve more. I want to do this, while recognizing not all people may want to do that. That is ok. I take solace in the fact that I want my story to talk about how I serve people and tried to make the world a better place. Smith is correct to remind us that life goes best when we do the right thing. That is a guard against selfishness, etc.
We need to be grateful and to worship God. I think both are good ideas. I am always amazed at how easy it is to get caught up doing everything but worship God. I have a million reasons why I don’t and why it doesn’t matter. But at my core, I know how important that is for me. And finally, Smith tells us to smile at our neighbors. If Jesus is right, everyone in the world is our neighbor. So we have a great deal of smiling to do!
Early in his article, Smith recognizes that “Dying is a unique and sacred experience…” He then quips that it is not an acceptable sacrifice simply to save our national economy, as some current politicians have claimed. I agree with him when he flatly declares that his death “the state of our economy is not a worthy reason for anyone to die, either by poverty, malnutrition, poor health care or COVID-19.” His sister died of a fairly rare form of cancer, as did the other two siblings. Of course, he is wary that he, too, will face the same sentence.
As he tells his story, I feel like I get to know him and his sister a little bit. The reminds me that we are really an accumulation of our stories. Perhaps life is the chapter of all our stories put together into one long narrative. It does start with “in the beginning” and reaches the last chapter or, perhaps, epilogue with the Latin word, finis or finished. All of us are still writing our story, and that is where I jump into the role of spirituality in my story. I am hoping that spiritual theme is a theme that can be pulled through many of my chapters and become a significant part of my story going forward to the epilogue.
I am touched when Smith tells us, “I want to die as gracefully as possible and that means I must prepare myself for the invasion of this cancer.” I want to die gracefully, too. Smith reminds me that I can prepare for that eventuality. And the preparation has everything to do with what I am thinking, feeling and how I act between then and now. I can shape every new day into a plus, rather than a minus.
Smith gives us a clue what some of this preparation will look like. In the first place, he says “That preparation is intellectual, emotional and spiritual.” It is not simply reading books or praying or just being good. It is a package deal. I can ask myself what I am doing to realize my hope to live well and to die well. Am I reading something that contributes to my development? It might be the Bible or other spiritual literature. Am I growing emotionally? Spending a lifetime in anger seems like a stupid thing to do! Spiritually there is always a positive role for some discipline, like meditating or reflection in some silence during the day.
Smith confesses, “I do not want to die soon.” Me either! I like what he wants to do. “I want to love more, do more, be more and discover more.” Why not? Me, too! He adds a spiritual note that resonates with me. Clearly, he is Christian when he notes, “In this milieu, a resurrected Jesus symbolizes hope and ongoing life, and I need that kind of faith.” This is how he backs into the idea of faith. That is important to me.
Smith talks about being grateful for his family and all they had together. I do take the gratitude thing seriously. It has been part of the last couple books I have written. I do feel grateful, but I can do better. I want to be grateful for all that has been. Even more, I want to live my remaining life so that I can be grateful for the whole thing.
Smith begins the end of his reflection with this last, long sentence. “Reminders of our inevitable death are always opportunities to live more fully now, to love better, to serve more, to do what we know is right, to show we are grateful for family and friends, to worship our God, to smile at our neighbors.” I appreciate his insight that reminders of our death are opportunities. Most of us don’t see it that way. These reminders tell us we can live more fully now. I know this; I want now to learn how to do it. Reminders of death are opportunities to love more. I am sure most folks I know what to love more and to love better. Like all virtues, love is just an idea until you actually do it.
Reminders of death are opportunities to serve more. I want to do this, while recognizing not all people may want to do that. That is ok. I take solace in the fact that I want my story to talk about how I serve people and tried to make the world a better place. Smith is correct to remind us that life goes best when we do the right thing. That is a guard against selfishness, etc.
We need to be grateful and to worship God. I think both are good ideas. I am always amazed at how easy it is to get caught up doing everything but worship God. I have a million reasons why I don’t and why it doesn’t matter. But at my core, I know how important that is for me. And finally, Smith tells us to smile at our neighbors. If Jesus is right, everyone in the world is our neighbor. So we have a great deal of smiling to do!
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