Sabbath Messages > Sabbath Message: May 21, 2005
Good Sabbath
May 21, 2005
"Time is lent to us to be laid out in God's service." (Cowley)
Well, I couldn't write because I was with my beloved brother, Lewis, in San Francisco. I don't travel with a computer, so here I am, a day late. Thanks for your patience.
"You'll find as you grow older that you weren't born such a very long time ago, after all. The time shortens up." (William Dean Howells)..oh do I know that.
My "baby brother, will be celebrating is 70th, this September. My delicious, sweet and wise Aunt Betty, mentions to me that she can't believe that her nephews are reaching or in their 70's. Yet the alternative would have brought great sadness. Living to ones fullest is not an option, but a blessing that we must all appreciate, no matter how in a hurry we are to see what heaven is truly like.
Thank You for hours, dear God
Each one is precious as life itself is.
Days pass quickly as life whizzes by
And moments must be captured
So brain and soul can be nurtured
For experience teaches
As ambition reaches
And spirit preaches
Making moments more than time,
But life itself.
Lew and I had such great fun as we shared past memories and spent time with dear departed Diane's fine husband, Jack, brilliant and humble, with sparkling humor and a little mischief, still missing Diane so. The true test of love is the size of the vacuum it leaves when mate departs. When I'm apart from Frances, the moments slow down into wishes that we were together as I review her face and her smile, and preview what she will be wearing at the airport, and the brightness of her marvelous smile which, like my brother's, can light up any room or moment.. Critical rationality begins with love; every thing good begins with love; the meaning of life is the love you can give and receive.
On the other hand is human nature. Each day's news chronicles how terrible we are to each other. The golden rule is allowed to rust as it lies there in the dust bin of forgotten commandments. I just read a column by a professor/psychologist , who authored the book "The Murderer Next Door". The column is headed, "Murder is in our blood". He says that his seven years of research, in the subject, showed that 91% of men and 84% of the females in five different cultures, have had at least one vivid fantasy of committing murder because: over the long reach of deep time, killing has conferred such powerful advantages and forged in all of us, minds designed for murder...it's part of human nature.
Shocking, hey? Reach back into your own memory bank and think of protecting one's children/family, getting a rivals resources, sexual access to a competitor's mate, eliminating someone you have learned to hate. I believe this to be true because I am witnessing what is happening in the divisiveness of politics where winning the office is second to destroying the opponent. I see truth vanish into political opportunism; and it so saddens me,for the evolution of hate is a monster waiting to devour its human victim.
Back up to my vacation with Lewis; the weather was incredible; he loves to drive so we visited Tiburon and Sausilito and all the piers and their amenities, ate great food, met strangers who could have been warm friends. Lew is great when it comes to greeting strangers, no matter their station in life. He simply wishes them a good day, a happy visit or time; he elevates social grace into a major amenity that strangers will long remember. He adds dignity to bellmen, busboys and shoe shiners. Joie and Lew's dog joined us for lunch. Yogi is as warm as Lew and even when he wandered close to entering an elevator, he was greeted by attentive passengers who felt his puppy-like warmth. Each time I am with Lew I learn how to be better.
We spoke about politics and how much hatred it engenders, how leadership brings an obligation to improve human nature, not to cater to its lowest values. Motivation must be created as a positive, not as an ambition for quick gain. I thought back to Nicaragua, where the pace is slower, the natives warmer, and Mother Nature nurtures an appreciation for beauty and things we can grow to love.
Here we have gangs that kill and maim, politics that mutate relationships, and greed that is the killer in our nature. But we also have the true holiness of what God included in our nature, love, care, beauty, kindness, generosity, consideration and compassion. These add to our capacities to do better as humans. There will be no greater miracle and no need for Messiah, when we discover what we contain, what we are and what we must become to bring peace and fulfillment to our neighbors.
Have a wonderful Sabbath and start your life all over again and forever.
sandy
