She said she usually cried at least once
each day not because she was sad, but
because the world was so beautiful &
life was so short.
From StoryPeople.
I can't let this one pass without commentary, because, in one sense, it is true, but in another sense, I think it's better to live in the present, whether in sad times or happy times, and not pine because life is short. That seems to me a waste of precious time. Then, too, I have great hope that this life is not the end.
Sorry I missed the thread about spiritual direction, below. Seems to me that ties into this, in some ways.
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, noted a comment about "negative thoughts about God," which I think is a common problem among believers; as in, such thoughts are taboo. It always reminds me of a lesson from my OT professor, one he got from his mentor, Walter Brueggeman. Commenting about a passage (I forget which one), he was trying to explain the passage without putting any responsibility on God (i.e., it should all be on fallible humans). Brueggeman's response was: "Don't be so quick to let God off the hook !"
It's a valuable lesson, if a bit gnomic (especially since I can't recall the scripture in question). It pays to remember "Israel" means "Struggles with God."
And yes, life is beautiful, but as the Romantics and Blake understood ("O Rose, thou art sick"), part of the beauty lies in the brevity.
A paradox, no?
Brueggeman's response was: "Don't be so quick to let God off the hook !"
ReplyDeleteWorth pondering, for sure.
...part of the beauty lies in the brevity.
All too brief for those cut off, as we say, before their time.
Anyway the past is gone, and the future may never come, so all we have is now - a cliché, surely, but true nonetheless.
And the "she" who cries in the story IS sad.