Life Sucks and Then You Die?

Call me Mara. That's where I'm at, where Naomi was, from the Book of Ruth in the Bible. She had lost her husband and her sons and was starving. Okay, writing her synopsis makes me realize I'm not that bad off. But, I did lose my husband in a divorce and now my son has grown up and left the nest. So I am empty and alone in their town.

On top of my own sadness and loneliness, my son called me last night with bad news. It has been a bad news week so that just finished it for me. Up until that point, I had a semblance of joy just knowing he was happy and settled. His happiness was seriously shifted around this week. And it was a blow to both of us! But, this is life, right? Or, as the French say, "C'est la vie". Maybe we weren't getting it all wrong in the 80's when we adapted the adage, "Life sucks and then you die."

Or maybe we were, because that teaches you to give up on life. But when living gets tough, that is where we learn how to live. Our choices, our failures, our wins they all usually land here...in the land of the unknown. An un-stirring (I like to make up my own words) place that somehow stirs us too thin. Life's wooden spoon keeps moving us around so fast, so much, and at such a high heat that it can ruin us.

Thank God we are not liquid in a pan controlled by an unseen hand. And we can decide how to live by the way we respond. When I die, it will be grand because I will be in heaven. But I strive to find joy and share that joy in this life too. We're here, may as well make the best of it! Oh, and by the way, Naomi's story was completely turned around. Her daughter-in-law, Ruth, followed her to her homeland and ended up marrying Naomi's relative, Boaz. Naomi was once again able to taste the sweetness of life to ice over her bitterness. Stay in the fight!