Life and Living

Often times, Life and Living are two very different things. Every now and then they tend to orbit together. But most of the time, they reside on opposite spectrum.

These last few days, I've watched the difference between the two. The harshness of Life positioned right next to the hopeful Living. A friend has been staying with us during her chemo treatment. She's a mom, just like me. Except, her children double mine in number. She has bone cancer and she's amazing.

Life is cancer. It's brutal with sharp edges all around. It comes at you when you least expect it and alters your path forever. Life just works that way. It bends and curves in ways we don't like and that are out of our control. Life moves along even when we don't want it to.

But then there is the Living. This week, I've seen that it is something altogether different than Life. In Living there are choices. Our choices. There is joy and hope to be found in the Living, we just have to make the choice to find it. Our Living tends to soften all the hard edges of the Life.

Our friend has had Life thrust upon her. One not of her choosing. But, her Living is inspiring. She speaks of lessons learned and the hard decisions she faces. And through all that, she Lives. And she smiles. And she finds joy. She teaches me to slow down. That life is not about the list, or the laundry, or the homework. It's so much more than that. She's discovered that she no longer tells her children to, "Hurry up!" That's all they did before. But it's not what they do now. She is forging a Living built on faith and love and family.

Life never seems to work out the way we plan. It just doesn't. It usually presents a whole different road to travel. One we never knew existed. But there is Living to be done along the way. I believe that it's the whole point of the journey. Today I shall quiet my Life in order to see the joy in my Living. And while I'm at it, I'll try and remove all my 'hurry up' words in my mother vocabulary.

Life is all about the Living.
Thank you Jenny, for your wise and whispered example.