Life and Death, Sun and Rain

Today was predicted to be warm and sunny, and the day did not disappoint! I got up early this morning to go out to breakfast with Paul. I didn't mind being up early at all because the day felt so glorious. I sat at the table with him and told him that I really do think gray, rainy days are beautiful, in a melancholy way, with all the different colors of gray and the moving clouds and how the sky looks through the trees. He called me a liar. :-) But it is true, I do appreciate days like that. But days like today, warm, sunny, vibrant--just make me feel happy all over. And all those gray days make the wonderful days like today seem so much better--and they *are* better, because of all the green that the rain brings. The rain is not only beautiful in it's own (melancholy) way, but it is also life-giving.

I attended a funeral today. And of course, life and death are like the gorgeous days and the rainy ones. There is so much to be celebrated in life, so much good. But it is bittersweet because of death. We all know that life must end someday. I am always reminded how beautiful and wistful the funeral service is in the Orthodox church, where even if you didn't know the person who is being buried (as I did not today) it is a reminder of life and the fact that we need to live well, and that it is temporary.

This reading is always profound to me, even though I've heard it multiple times:

And once again I looked with attention on the tombs, and I saw the bones therein which of flesh were naked; and I said, "Which indeed is he that is king? Or which is soldier? Which is the wealthy, which the needy? Which the righteous, or which the sinner?"

After we are dead and gone from this earth, all that will be left to distinguish us is what good or ill we did on this earth that is lasting. What made a change for the future? It will be kindnesses, relationships, and it will be ill will or selfishness. It will not matter who had and who did not. How will we nurture the life of the future of this world?