Life is brief but never fragile

Picture taken @ HortPark by colleague. Love the beauty of balance in a dragonfly and its readiness to take life, however brief, in full zest!

I'm used to saying the phrase "Life is so fragile", especially upon receiving the news of someone's demise. It sounds resigned yet poetic and profound. To me, it's a reminder to cherish every life and live every moment with my loved ones, to the fullest.

However, recently, a little book presented by my friend and mentor in church, challenged my thinking. It has a section called "Aliveness" and it says:--

"There is a difference between impermanence and fragility. Life can change abruptly and end without warning, but life is not fragile."

"There is a tenacity toward life present in every cell without which even the most sophisticated of medical interventions would not succeed."

"Joy is far less fragile than happiness. Joy seems to come from an unconditional wish to live, the willingness to accept life whole and show up to make the most of whatever is there. It has a kind of invincibility that attachment to any particular outcome would deny us."

--From 'The Little Book of Kitchen Table Wisdom' by Rachel Naomi Remen

Suddenly, I realised that there is more to life than the physical well-being of a person. Life is more than exisiting on earth, it is about being alive and present--body, heart, soul, and mind; more than the capacity to live well, but the will to live on and make the most of what you have; more than the possession of your faculties and strength, but the zeal to use them to enjoy every experience; more than knowing you have today and tomorrow, but the purposeful living to bless others with what you've been blessed with.

If life is less dependent on our physical qualities, but more centered on our spiritual substance, then indeed life can be the strongest when it is most hit by physical ailments and handicaps. Because it is through the weak and broken vessels that contain life, that the treasure from within shine through. It is when we see how someone can abandon the human self/ expectations/ preferences, to embrace life in the midst of suffering, pain and loss, that we realise how strong life can be, and how hard it is to kill its hope, when it has fully blossomed.

And it is a beautiful reminder to me, that life is more than there is on this earth--a far greater glory awaits at the end of the road, a glory that is of no end. Yet, like most precious things, this glory is invisible to human sight, and can only been glimpsed through eyes of faith.

"No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no mind has conceived

what God has prepared for those who love Him"

1 Corinthians 2:9b

And the last book of my favourite series of chronicles has put this beautiful promise in a more understandable way:--

"And for us this is the end of all stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." --The Last Battle by C. S. Lewis

As we begin 2010 with the Author and Perfector of our faith, our life stories, may we set our hearts and minds homeward, on things above, and live His good and perfect will on earth, as it is in heaven. For He shall be our strength and song!

What are the marks of true aliveness on earth?

To appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived... This is to have succeeded.

Ralph Waldo Emerson