You are gone, but never forgotten...

Death touches us all at some point in our lives, in one way or another.  The thing about death that hurts the most, I think, is the permanence thereof.  When a loved one dies, you won't talk to them again, they won't walk through your door again...there is a hole in your life.

I have often wondered, if it wouldn't be better to not love at all, to live a life of a hermit...because loving, attaching yourself emotionally, then ultimately having your loved ones die, is a pain that never really goes away, it just numbs over time.  But then, what would the point of life be?  You might as well then never have been born.  Life in itself is a challenge filled with ups and downs, highs, lows, hardships and good times.

You have to experience loss in order to savor good times and cherish love when it crosses your path, that's how it works. Love isn't something that sits well with the weak, it is the prerogative of the strong.  It takes a strong person to love and a strong person to let go.

This past week, death touched my life, again, this year.  Small comfort can be drawn from the fact that earthly suffering has ended in this particular instance.  When death enters our lives, taking away a life, we may not understand why, or how...we can kick, scream and cry, but it won't change anything, it won't bring back the person or people we have loved.

However hard it feels to be left behind, we have to keep on living, for as long as you breathe, you are ALIVE and therefore you should be thankful.  It is okay to grieve, it is necessary.  Tears wash the soul clean, it lightens the heart...even cowboys are allowed to cry.

When death visits someone close to you, its a wake up call: don't exist, LIVE.  Cherish your loved ones.  Don't procrastinate...tomorrow could be too late...

Death touches us all, it might be sad, but when you live your life right, nothing can be sweeter.  To my uncle:  You may be gone, but you are never forgotten...

In loving memory of Koos Laas

xxx

Ripples in the pond

For quite some time I have been struggling with a particular issue:  Am I enough?  Am I old enough, strong enough, smart enough, wise enough, tough enough...to do what I've set out to do? 

All of a sudden I felt scared, as if I wanted to back away from this mountain, but then it came to me: you eat an elephant one bite at a time.  I have also come to realise that you never back down - you stand tall and you rise to the occasion called life.  If not you, then who? If not now, when?

Therefore, I decided to shake off my fear, for I have read that, when your "worry list" is long, your god cannot be almighty, for if you have now worries at all, that means that you have put your faith and your trust in God - that is how it ought to be.  That is the path I am choosing.

Never doubt the path you are on when it has been laid out in advance for you.  When life hands you lemons, you stuff them down your shirt to make your boobs look bigger and you smile, because if you don't stand up, you waste your own time.  The funny thing about life is, it goes on...you can sulk for a while, but pretty soon, it gets stale.  Sympathy dries up, people stop noticing, the whole shebang.

So, the way I see it, you can either have faith in your God, faith in yourself, and faith in your journey, or you might as well just die :)  Me, personally, I choose life. 

I choose to enrich lives because I am blessed enough to be able to wake up renewed every morning, therefore I will share and I will keep on sharing and caring and enriching till the day I die.

In conclusion to my fear:  I am enough, because God gives me enough to give...I never run out...when I struggle with a problem I always end up with a solution, when I am tired, I receive strength.  The answer to your problems are as far as your knees from the ground.

Thus - when you are in doubt, afraid, scared...firstly, it is okay, you are human.  Second of all, take a deep breath and calm yourself.  Thirdly:  none of those emotions will solve anything.  Therefore, relax yourself, let your mind go, but in the end you will see that if you let go and let God...the results will absolutely amaze you.

And lastly, always remember: YOU ARE ENOUGH :)