The reaper can be more grim
May 17, 2016ZIP LINES AND SECOND CHANCES
July 29, 2016
Sam’s life was good. Job was challenging but rewarding, family was doing well, and weekends were packed with camping or boating with the kids or golfing with the guys. Sweet. For several years. And then, with that one call…it wasn’t.
Gabrielle thought the hits just wouldn’t stop coming. She wasn’t listening to the weekly Top 40 Countdown. Rather her mother was diagnosed with cancer and died three months after diagnosis. Three months. A few weeks before her death, Gaby was in a car accident and they thought it would take a good year before she’d gain full use of her left hand again. And her car was totaled. Now it looked like her company may be sold and her position eliminated.
“This too shall pass.” Hard to remember when life is good. Even harder when it’s not. And yet, if you’ve lived long enough, you begin to realize that there are cycles in life and whether it’s rosy or grim, change is gonna happen.
If you are coasting right now, with life feeling sweet and rich with meaningful work and good connections with family and friends, savor it. Take note of it regularly. Seer it into your memory to recall when life serves up its next challenge to help you stretch and grow and evolve.
If you feel like a punching bag, like you’ll never really breathe again as a result of this hit, this loss, this unfair blow, know and tell yourself several times each day, “This isn’t a permanent state I’m in. This too shall pass.” No, you will never be the same. Life will be different from now on. After all, conflict is a catalyst, right? But life will again be sweet and rich with meaning that you will appreciate more because of what you are enduring now.
Perhaps India Arie’s soulful song aptly titled for today, This Too Shall Pass, will help in recalling that fact. Find it HERE.
Sam processed that call and went through hell…for a bit. It passed. The lights came on again in Gaby’s life and she smiled and laughed and danced once more to the Top 40 hits. It too passed.
Wishing you wisdom,
Lyrics to This Too Shall Pass by India Arie
But I’m an amateur in love
My bank account is doing just fine
But my emotions are bankrupt
But my heart is in a million pieces
When the sun is shining so am I
But when the night falls so does my tears
That I can barely tell our voices apart
Sometimes the fear is so loud in my head
That I can barely hear what God saysThen I hear a whisper that this too shall pass
I hear the angel’s whisper that this too shall pass
My ancestors whisper that this day one day will be the past
So I walk in faith that this too shall passThe one that loved me the most
Turned around and hurt me the worse
I’m doing my best to move on
But the pain just keeps singing me songsMy head and my heart are at war
Cause love ain’t happening the way I wanted
Feel like I’m about to break down
Can’t hear the light at the end of the tunnelSo I pray for healing in my heart
To be put back together what is torn apart
And I pray for quiet in my head
That I can hear clearly what God saysThen I hear the whisper that this too shall pass
I hear the Angels whisper that this too shall pass
My ancestors whisper that this day will one day be the past
So I walk in faith that this too shall pass
All of sudden I realize
That it only hurts worse to fight it
So I embrace my shadow
And hold on to the morning light
This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass
This Too Shall Pass
I hear the angels whisper
that trouble don’t have to last always
I hear the angels whisper
Even the day after tomorrow will one day be yesterday.
I hear my angels whisper.
I hear my angels whisper.
This too shall pass.
