SALT WATER

SALT WATER

“The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea”.

--Isak Dinesen

A Carolina beach is the perfect place to celebrate cancer remission and

to give praise to the one God who is always with us, even to the end of time.

 

APPRECIATING TIME

TIMELESS SUNRISE

When asked “What’s the biggest mistake we make in life?”, the Buddha replied, “You think you have time.”

Don’t waste your time waiting.

Time is free…

But it’s priceless.

You can’t own it…

But you can use it.

You can’t keep it…

But you can spend it.

And once it’s lost…

You can never get it back.

Getting a cancer diagnosis when you’re busy making other plans, requires a change of plans, forcing you to drop everything and begin a focused fight for your life. Once remission is confirmed, every following minute becomes acutely appreciated. Even the mundane becomes relevant.

 

PEACEFUL STILL WATERS

STILL WATERS

The North Carolina low country close to the Atlantic Ocean is a wonderful place on earth to celebrate the successful conclusion of exorcising cancer. The concept of "still waters" appears most famously in the Bible in Psalm 23:2, where King David writes that the Lord "leads me beside still waters".

It is a powerful metaphor for spiritual peace, divine provision, and the rest that God offers His followers. It’s about God guiding His people away from chaos and anxiety into a safe, nourishing environment where their "soul is restored".

 

MOM

MOTHER AND CHILD

A palliative care worker shared that one of the most common words people call out at the end of life is “mom”. As the body shuts down, the brain often seems to return to the first source of comfort and safety it ever knew.

It’s a sobering thought to see bedtime differently, because one day there will be a last time, even though we won’t notice it at the time, as life moves along.

 

SANCTUARY

GARDEN SANCTUARY

My present mission is to curate my living space inside and outside so that it feels like a sanctuary and not a storage unit containing stuff that will eventually be sold or donated to charity. Using the Marie Kondo method of decluttering by holding items up to the test of giving joy, simplify life by discarding those that do not pass, beginning with 80% of the clothes in your closet and dresser drawers you will never wear again.

 

REFLECTIONS ON LIFE

LOW COUNTRY MARSH

We spend our younger years looking forward,

And our older years smiling at what we left behind.

And it’s our brain that discards the trivial while retaining what proves to be relevant later. Reminiscing back over the years, it’s interesting to note that I only recall one memory of a double play I made during my many years of youth baseball under the foreign night lights of my first all star game. Needless to say I was never destined for the majors!

We are here not to simply exist but to awaken to the reality that love is eternal. Every breath is a quiet gift and every heartbeat a reminder that our creator is giving us the time to live, love and grow. Focus on living one day at a time, for that is where life is played out. And when praying for change, do not ask for “my will but God’s will be done”.

The most beautiful things in life aren’t the stuff we accumulate but the moments of hidden strength and support that carried us through the hardest life storms to the peaceful eye of the hurricane. And always remember that the path to a full life is never a straight line. In the end, that subliminal uneasiness we experience is remembering that this life isn’t our final destination, as we’re all simply walking each other home to a place we’ve never been before.

The last moments in life rarely announce themselves. Recognize them as the ordinary memories in life that will outlast the moments and provide a lasting peace that you were there to experience them along with our creator’s ever presence.

 

MAJOR LIFE CHANGES

KANSAS INLAND OCEAN

CAROLINA ATLANTIC OCEAN

When we’re living in the prime of our lives, it’s quite likely we’re also wearing many hats that we self-identify with as we attempt to juggle multiple responsibilities—and identities.  If we’re lucky, we will actually have the good fortune to experience most of the significant life changes that come with a full life, e.g., I learned early on to see retirement as a life change from success to significance and reset my life course to embrace it.  We choose many of our life changes and identities and others are thrust upon us.  I now identify as a cancer survivor, not by choice, but circumstance.   

I recently watched a short video discussing major life changes that confirmed they don’t just change circumstances but also our identity as well.  And the new version of you hasn’t arrived yet which can take some serious adjustments of self.  A good question to ask is “Who am I now learning to become?” and embrace it.  That’s the hardest part.  Who is this new person I have become that now others, especially new acquaintances, see me in the world at that time in my life?  This may be an easier adjustment for those I just met versus folks I have known all of my life.

And just to keep life interesting, I've migrated from the vast Inland Ocean of Kansas to North Carolina's Atlantic Ocean.