OTHERS

[The following is a reprint of my blog of November 29, 2011.]

Back in the day, whenever I noted the passing of anyone, I thought of that life as just a bump in the road…which left a fairly what’s-the-use aftertaste, if you will.

Then I was gifted with the prayer of Saint Francis. In that prayer, he asks to be made an instrument of God’s peace. That’s when I got my first glimpse of life having a personal reason…that my life had a purpose. I saw that God answered that prayer at birth…we are each an instrument of God’s peace. Our job from birth is to do exactly that…be an instrument of God’s peace.

More important to me personally, I realized that to be an instrument of God’s peace, I would need to make myself available to others. That was not particularly good news to me but I knew it to be true for me. The simple fact that I did not particularly like people forced me to accept that I needed people. It was just plain fact that I could not be an instrument of peace, God’s or my ego’s, with no one to interact with. Left alone too long, I can get into fierce arguments with myself and wind up hurting my own feelings…repeatedly.

I also knew that, after the fact, a life may look like a bump in the road, but each life-bump was useful…was necessary…if it touched somebody else. Even as a bad example, maybe especially as a bad example (since everybody has to learn acceptance someway), if somebody else was affected by that life, it was an instrument for God’s peace.

That was then, and is to this day, my “new day a-dawning” feeling. I know my purpose in life. I know my life counts…through my dependence on others…and others’ dependence on me.

Thank You.