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As I looked up at my Mom’s picture hanging
above my desk today, I realized that it is now
almost 15 years since her death. Thankfully, over
the years the pain and sense of loss have eased
while the memories of her life and her love have
remained. I can still feel her presence as I write
this. I am sure that she is not only smiling down
on me from her picture on the wall, but from
Heaven as well. I only wish she hadn’t left us
quite so soon. The great teacher, author,
and speaker Leo Buscaglia said that he was often
asked by his classes why we have to go through
pain, suffering, and even death. He stated that he
never did find out why, but at some point in his
life he stopped asking the questions and started
living the answers. "That", he said, "made all the
difference."
How do we live the answers? I think we do
so by choosing love, joy, and oneness with God
everyday of our lives. We do so through pain as
well as comfort. We do so through suffering as
well as happiness. We do so even in the face of
death. Some of the wisest, gentlest, kindest, most
loving, and most joyous people I have ever known
are those who have suffered the most. The only
difference is that they used that suffering to
help them to grow into the people God wanted them
to be.
What good is pain, suffering, and even
death if we don’t use them to grow more loving,
more giving, more compassionate, more peaceful,
more joyous, and more at one with God? I think my
Mother knew this as she battled cancer in her
final years and faced death at such an early age.
She blessed us all with her love, her joy, and her
gentle laughter right up until her dying day. I
only hope and pray that I can live my own answers
as beautifully and wonderfully as she lived hers.
May all of you lovingly live your own answers then
in this life and in the next.
© 2007 Joseph J. Mazzella |
