The Art of Reflectiveness

This Sunday, we reflect.

Not only do we mark the ten year anniversary of the attack in New York that changed our nation, we note the one week mark of the fires that changed our town.

I thought much about this day this morning.  The scope of reflection is vast and narrow all at the same time.  Looking back at that horrible day ten years ago and looking back at that  horrible day a week ago, seems overwhelming. It matters not the time span, loss is loss and its painful.  Dark days are remembered.

I gave consideration to all that has happened to my family in the ten year span since that unbelievable day in September of 2001. We have moved, buried our mother, struggled with Logan's suicide and a thousand minor dramas that are part of every life.

While the deaths in our family were by far the most difficult to endure and as with Logan's death, events we were unsure we would survive, we did.  Not unlike that dark day and week in September when we thought we would never move beyond the images of planes and building, the years eased the pain and lifted some of the burdens.  Nothing erases the memories of pain and the feelings of uncertainty but somehow life went on.  We continued to live our lives, we worked, we fed our families, made plans for the future and moved on.  We moved on past those days that left us numb and lost.

As we look back at where we have been, what we have done,  how we have felt, ways we have changed, we see the sorrow and the joy of the many days we have been given.  Each moment, good and bad, makes up the fabric that is our individual lives.  A tapestry at the end of amazing colors and designs.  Designs that appear as paths we chose, decisions we made and hues of emotion.  In the end, that tapestry is passed on to the generations that follow us.

May we mark this day with reverence and reflection.  Many of us are still in the throws of emotional days and wrestle with the twists of fate.  But let us not forget that is was the promise of our birth, that things will happen, we will be tested, we will feel pain.  But we will also see great moments of joy and know pure happiness.  We will see with our eyes visions of heaven on earth. We will know kindness and compassion.

In all things there is balance.  Accepting this balance is to accept ourselves, our lives and our futures. Let not the pain of the past keep too tight a grip upon your hand.  Like travelers on the road, we must either leave the pain and sorrow behind or allow the path to part.

To those of you who have lost people you love, buildings you called home and possessions of a lifetime, please know that the future is embedded with possibilities and opportunities.  The obstacles will be bypassed, the hurdles jumped and the wounds healed.  Life has proved to us time and time again that we can overcome hardships.  In that we must trust.