In memoriam...

Mourn. Grieve. Let your soul ache the pain it feels.

But this is the chief thing: Be not perturbed.
There is a season for all things - the coming in and the going away.
And in a little time each one of us will be no-one and
no-where, blended back into the mystery.

As he once was, we still are.
As he is now, so we will be, all too soon.
Fear not. We have been there before.
It’s OK. It is the way of all things.
The coin of in-the-meantime is all we have to spend.
What will you do until your time comes?
What is, after all, really important?
What will you leave behind in the hearts and minds of others?

Because we don’t know when we will die,
we think of life as an inexhaustible well.
Yet everything happens only a certain number of times,
and a very small number, really.
How many more times will you remember a certain
afternoon of your childhood?
Perhaps four or five times more.
Perhaps not even that.
How many more times will you watch the full moon rise?
Perhaps twenty. It all seems limitless. But it’s not.

Don’t miss the good times.
Notice and hold on to the lovely things.
Don’t miss the chance to leave a memory behind you as
one who loved this sweet life,
and one who loved others.
Remember to be kind.

And always believe that love is stronger than death.
Live in peace, trying always to do unto others as you
would have others do unto you.

Amen.