Celebration Of Life

SAT., MAY 29, 1993, 5:25 AM
FARM, STUDY

One of the most important responses to the life you have, as a Christian servant of Mine, is to celebrate that life. There is no one, single way to do this celebration, so hear Me as I tell about some alternatives.

I’ll begin with what your class yesterday represented. You are responsible for a 400 level university course that has to do with dying and with death. Yet you took them out of the classroom, first to the funeral home and then around your picnic table here on the Farm, having them hear the stories that culminate in Peter’s death, burial, and, in a sense, his “resurrection.” Telling stories of life as you have lived it is one good way to celebrate life. Having tasty food available, and some variety of beverages… these also add to celebration. Be sure you emphasize this celebration theme next week, even as you prepare for the final Friday experience.

A variation of story telling is story reading, and My highest recommendation goes to the reading of My Holy Scriptures, which are both one long story (with rather bizarre beginnings and endings) and a series of stories, some connected and some not. I know this isn’t your favorite reading, but I do recommend it, continually, as a way of celebrating the mystery that these old stories do relate to life today… and tomorrow.

The requirements for this course are mainly encouragements for the learners to tell you stories, and you were pleased with the “first set.” Now you shall read their “exams,” and the stories they have created rather spontaneously, out of the items you have presented. As you review this with them, try to make them aware that this very process is a celebration of life. Many exams are NOT celebrations. This one is.

You celebrated life yesterday morning as you cut and trimmed, making this Farm a more beautiful place. You must do more planting… and fertilizing… and this growth will be another form of celebration. For you these “beautification tasks” are celebrations.

Your birthday, the anniversary of that original day of birth, was a celebration, of sorts. There was a cake and ice cream, family and friends, plus phone calls from those sons who couldn’t come. You have had 67 good years, and these should be remembered and celebrated. It is nice to be remembered in this way, even as this isn’t critical to your feeling about self. Call and talk to your sister today, adding a bit to her celebration of a life that has been harder, in some ways, than yours, and in other ways, easier. Remembering anniversaries of others, at which Lenore is better than you are, is a good form of celebration. Try to do better at this, as your life proceeds.

You celebrate life as you listen to music that is good for your spirit… and as you create this for the benefit of others, as well as self, in the simple, non-professional way that is yours. This is a unique form of celebration, and I encourage you to continue it, even into these older years.