Reality Strikes

Oh, wow, where did break go? Here it is Sunday night and I have to teach tomorrow. And the other thing is I am having one of those nights when there is not a fluid thought in my head. Unfortunately I have been steeped in books and journals and not even aware of what is happening in the news. We are still in Easter so we continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. My community buried one of our sisters this week, Kathy Nelessen, unfortunately I was unable to make it to the services. She entered into eternal life as a woman who dealt with cancer for nearly 25 years, and she serves as an inspiration in the pursuit of resurrection. There was another death this week as my nephew had to put his cat, Gwynny, to sleep. These are the days nobody wants to deal with as a pet owner and he was able to  be present for her death.  My mom and sisters were with him. It is in these moments that we have an opportunity to realize the fragility of life and, while I reflect on these two deaths I recognize the impermanence of it all. I remember the line from Meet Joe Black, "The only guarantees in life are death and taxes." That is a crass way of stating it yet it often come to mind. Somehow we are interlopers in this realm and, as hard as it is for me to see most of the time, the resurrection is really only one breath away and in this we live our "Alleluia's."