THE GIFT OF LIFE

When asked recently to think seriously about my gifts, I thought first (and got stuck on) one word, LIFE.  Twenty years ago this month I thought my life was over with the onset of an aggressive cancer.  Since then I have come to appreciate my life more than ever before. More recently, I have realized the life I have and now am most grateful for, is far deeper than my visible, breathing, moving, sometimes painful  physical body. Today the life I most value is invisible, and sometimes difficult to get in touch with. It is my very being, my essence, my soul, my spirit, consciousness, energy, and awareness.  It is formless, limitless and eternal. It is a feeling more than something I can wrap my mind around.  When asked how I could share my gift with our church, I thought of the word, "Presence," more than just showing up although that is how it starts. To be there with God and fellow beings with full attention is not always easy to come by with my wandering mind.  Although the religion I grew up with and promoted for years encouraged "worshipping God in spirit and in truth," I sometimes get hung up on rituals and personalities.