Approaching the tenth anniversary of my father's passing I find myself remembering him and things he used to say. One that came to me the other day was, "We're all in this together, and none of us is getting out alive!" He used to speculate that when we pass over, the part of us that was a "drop from the ocean of spirit" would return to that ocean and what we know of as our "personality" would be washed away. Yet towards the end he became convinced that he was wrong, that indeed the personality would survive the death of the body. How he came to this realization I am not completely sure, but by the time the cancer overcame his body's resistance he was firm in the belief that his adventure was just beginning.
So when we leave this life, what do we get to bring with us? Not material things, obviously. Great accomplishments? Perhaps, but only to the extent we grew to achieve them. Love? Mostly. In the end, it's what we did with what we had to work with. Often when one of my daughters is heading out of the house to go to a dance class or do something with friends I say, "Have fun! Work hard! But have fun!" When I die I want to arrive at the other side out of breath, flushed with excitement like at the bottom of a ski run. I want to high five someone and say, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!"
So when we leave this life, what do we get to bring with us? Not material things, obviously. Great accomplishments? Perhaps, but only to the extent we grew to achieve them. Love? Mostly. In the end, it's what we did with what we had to work with. Often when one of my daughters is heading out of the house to go to a dance class or do something with friends I say, "Have fun! Work hard! But have fun!" When I die I want to arrive at the other side out of breath, flushed with excitement like at the bottom of a ski run. I want to high five someone and say, "That was awesome! Let's do it again!"
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