What if today is the day you’ve been hoping for?
How would you choose to live it out? You opened your eyes to a new sunrise, a new display of nature’s magnificence. You’re included in God’s master plan for humanity. How will you choose to spend it? I first thought seriously about this concept as a 17 year old high school senior. I was chosen to play the lead character, Emily, in the play “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder. Little did I know that role would change my life forever. Even now, I could cry as I recall the moment. Emily was a young woman who died giving birth to her first child. There was a scene after her death in which she pleaded with the Narrator, who was the God character, to live once again. After some deliberation on his part, her desire was granted; to come back to earth for just one more day. “Make it an insignificant day”, said the Narrator, “for it will be significant enough”. Emily was thrilled and spontaneously blurted out, “My twelfth birthday!”. She began to relive this ‘insignificant day’ with her family in the scene, just as it had happened. Suddenly her eyes were opened as she tried without success to get her mother to stop and truly listen to her. From her new vantage point, she could now see the beautiful gift of life in the simplest moments. “Mamma, look at me, really, really look at me.”, she said, as her mother busily scurried about trying to prepare the meal. As the scene unfolded Emily could not contain her feelings any longer. Turning to the Narrator, she burst into tears crying out with deep sadness, “Doesn’t anyone realize life while they’re living it, every, every minute?” He wisely replied, “Some poets do, I suppose”. Thornton Wilder, in his great wisdom, unveiled the meaning of the play and life in that one sentence, “Doesn’t anyone realize life while they’re living ?”.
Will you realize life while you’re living it? I ask myself once again, that same question; will I realize life while I’m living it? While I still have breath? As you’re reading this, turn inward and notice that yearning you feel right now as it emanates from the deepest recesses of your being. It is the desire to live fully, authentically, deeply connected and engaged. To know God and be known by God. To love and be loved. The spiritual journey is the foundation for all of life, for it is life and life is the container for relationship, first with God, then with self, others and the world. How will you choose to honor this day, to receive the gift of this day? Don’t let another moment go by, another breath leave your body without your awareness of the magnificence that is your life. Don’t wait until your moments are numbered before you wake up on the inside and cherish each one, for even the most insignificant of days is significant enough.
Look forward to seeing you whenever and wherever that may be my friend
I am so excited to hear from you. I’ve thought of you so often. Peace be with you my dear friend.
That story was so incredibly beautiful and it brought back a memory of when I actually was around 10 or 11. I had just woken up from a dream that had the same elements as that young girl, Emily, in the play. I was playing on the beach with my sweet little 5 year old sister. Two large birds, pelicans, descended down with a giant cloth shared between their beaks. I was very somber as I know it was time for me to go to God, to leave my life. I was very sad to leave my sister. I climbed into this cloth (similar to those images of storms delivering babies) and the birds carried me away. “”Where are you going?” my sister called out. “To Heaven,” I said.
When I arrived, I begged God for one more chance to love on earth, feeling it was much to soon to be in heaven. He reluctantly agreed. Suddenly I found myself in the kitchen of my own home. My mom was walking in with a bag of groceries. Unaware of been gone. I tried to impress upon her how good it was to be alive. She seemed busy and disconnected, distracted.
That who dream left me, as a young woman of 10 or 11, a deep sense of the value of life. But it was a lonely feeling too because no one else seemed to share it. Thank you so much Maria for helping me remember this.
What a lovely story. I’m so glad my work could inspire your memory. May you allow the grace of this dream to inspire you to live fully moment by moment in the Presence of God. Peace be with you, soul friend. Many blessings, Maria