Dear One,
If a 7 year old were to ask you, “What is life?“, how would you answer?
Quick possibilities that pop into my head are…
“It’s what happens between birth and death.”
And/or…
“It’s anything that has the ability to grow, breathe, experience sensations.”
And/or…
“I don’t really know, but I can say – it’s a miracle!”
I asked my 20 year old son and he chimed in with, “Life is an adventure, a journey.”
Merriam-Webster has 20 definitions for the word LIFE. Seriously! (Click to see them … I don’t know about you, but whenever things get lengthy or complicated, I figure there’s a reasonable chance we don’t really know what we’re talking about.)
The human ego LOVES to understand and to believe it has access to all knowledge. We have outright love affairs with the foundation of make-believe.
I could say with a puffed-out chest, “Life is anything that’s animate and experiences consciousness” and be done with it.
But then I’d scratch my head, deflate my chest and wonder, “Does that mean the spirits I communicate with all the time aren’t a part of life? Aren’t the angels part of life?”
And if I let myself get totally out there, I wonder, “Isn’t life also the force that exists as thepotential for existence?”
What I will admit – with great humility – is that we really don’t know all there is to know about life. It’s a word that transcends any definition and knows no bounds. I actually think it’s one of those things (gasp) that we’re not meant to know all about. At least not while we’re still in body.
I’ve had a lot of opportunity to experience sides of “life” that are new to me these past few months as I’ve been caring for the elderly, ailing loved ones in my life and watching them step nearer and closer to death.
For the 3rd time, last week hospice predicted that my stepmother’s passing was imminent. For the 3rd time, she rallied and restored a bit of life to her body.
The hospice workers are stumped (and the angels are winking.)
Why? How? Her back is broken, she can’t move, her body has “failed” her and she continues to live.
Love.
Enter “the other most important 4-letter word.”
Her adoration for my father is boundless and her spirit is insistent that everything be in order for him. It hasn’t been, so she continues on. At least this is my belief as to why she is defying everyone’s predictions.
Love is another word that’s hard to define…or is it?
Most of us believe we can experience life even when we aren’t feelin’ the love. So can life and love exist separately? That sure feels wrong.
So then what if living = loving? What if we are living because the Divine Source of All That Is (aka God, Spirit, etc…) loves us?
Maybe LIFE in its purest definition is simply about opening to the forces of LOVE.
I won’t throw myself on the sword to protect this definition, but I will say that it explains why those of us who seem to be more alive seem to be more able to love… perhaps the correlation has some validity.
I know I’m meandering a bit on this juicy, philosophical topic and I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. If you’re not already part of our Facebook Community, let’s chat it up!
And for those of you wondering what the heck this has to do with the angels…
Our angels are ALWAYS guiding us towards living a life of love, joy and abundance. The more we accept the love and open ourselves to fully living, the more we are in alignment with our angelic guidance.
And that is ALWAYS a good thing.
Beautiful, bright blessings for a joyous week full of life…
With love,
Rev. Elvia Nina
