What a waste of a life!

            What a waste of a life!  Wouldn’t her time be better spent making a difference?  She could have changed so much if she had run a soup kitchen or opened a cloths dispensary for the homeless.  Instead, she frittered her time away praying and fasting in the temple in Jerusalem.  Anna never left the place.

            Anna was probably in her late teens or early twenties when the sorrow of not having children was compounded by becoming a widow.  What would she do with the rest of her life?  She chose to spend it in a spiritual quest, living a life of disciplined prayer.  Anna’s whole life was a deep longing for Jerusalem’s freedom.

            This life long rhythm of prayer had opened the eyes of her soul.  She was alert to every sign of God on the move, her ears acute to the sound of angel wings with their messages and songs.  So when she saw the child newly wounded by the cut of the covenant she erupted in songs of praise to God.  Sixty years of devotion had prepared her for this moment, to speak of this child to all who were looking for God at work.  The measure of her life was the way in which she had lived every moment for this moment.

            tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom is a book that was introduced to me earlier in this year.  Over the Christmas period someone gave me the film by the same name.  On this occasion I enjoyed book and film equally.  Morrie was Mitch’s teacher and they reconnect in life at the point when Morrie is preparing to die from motor neurons disease. 

            Morrie tells Mitch:  “Everyone knows they’re going to die...but nobody believes it.  If we did, we would do things differently.”

            So we kid ourselves about death, I said.

            “Yes.  But there’s a better approach.  To know you’re going to die, and to be prepared for it at any time.  That’s better.  That way you can actually be more involved in your life while you’re living.”

            How can you ever be prepared to die?

            “Do what the Buddhists do.  Every day, have a little bird on your shoulder that asks, ‘Is today the day?  Am I ready?  Am I doing all I need to do?  Am I being the person I want to be?’”

            He turned his head to his shoulder as if the bird were there now.

             “Is today the day I die?” he said.[1]

Prayer:  Jesus you lived to die.  Teach me to live so that I may die well.  Show me that my significance is in giving my whole life in prayer to you.  Amen.