After The Hurricane
Well for most of my friends on the east coast this has been one heck of a few days. Hurricane Irene definitely made an impact on all our lives this weekend and as I write this she is still battering my home state of Massachusetts.
Hurricanes, like other natural disasters are interesting phenomena. They are mother nature's unfortunate spring cleaning mechanisms. They destroy everything in their path. Yet something interesting happens after the hurricane; life always returns.
Life is so incredibly resilient. It exists in places life really shouldn't exist. From boiling sulfuric vents in the bottom of the ocean, to aresenic-filled lakes in Latin America, to the coldest ends of Antarctica and the driest spots of the Sahara, life somehow finds a way.
As surely as a wildfire will singe entire forests, after the last embers have cooled, seeds will seemingly miraculously begin to grow plants out of the ashes. As surely as this hurricane has knocked trees down, pushed houses into the ocean, and taken lives, humans will emerge to pick up the pieces and start anew.
This weekend as Irene leaves her mark on our lives, I say we use this opportunity to start anew. Let's use this as a reminder of the important things in our lives; not our expensive cars, not our houses, not our things, all those can be replaced. Let's use this storm's passing to remind ourselves of the real treasures of our lives, our families, our friends, our co-workers and neighbors, even our pets.
Let's step outside and see if the neighbor next door needs any help. For those of us church-goers, let's put a little more in the offering plate this weekend so our places of worship have additional funds to tend to the poor and stricken. If it means you don't buy a week's worth of your 64 ounce quadruple macchiatos that you really don't "need" anyway, so be it.
Let's use this moment to reach out to friends or family we may not have spoken to in awhile. To include the ones we have been mad at for so long, we don't even remember why we are mad at them but we don't call because we are too stubborn to be the first to "cave". How childish is that? Really. Call them!
Finally, let's use this opportunity to reenergize ourselves. To remind ourselves how precious every single day is we have on this earth and how fleeting and limited the heartbeats we have left really are. Let's be good to each other. As the famous Mary Kay used to say, "if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours. You've got plenty."
As always I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself.
Hurricanes, like other natural disasters are interesting phenomena. They are mother nature's unfortunate spring cleaning mechanisms. They destroy everything in their path. Yet something interesting happens after the hurricane; life always returns.
Life is so incredibly resilient. It exists in places life really shouldn't exist. From boiling sulfuric vents in the bottom of the ocean, to aresenic-filled lakes in Latin America, to the coldest ends of Antarctica and the driest spots of the Sahara, life somehow finds a way.
As surely as a wildfire will singe entire forests, after the last embers have cooled, seeds will seemingly miraculously begin to grow plants out of the ashes. As surely as this hurricane has knocked trees down, pushed houses into the ocean, and taken lives, humans will emerge to pick up the pieces and start anew.
This weekend as Irene leaves her mark on our lives, I say we use this opportunity to start anew. Let's use this as a reminder of the important things in our lives; not our expensive cars, not our houses, not our things, all those can be replaced. Let's use this storm's passing to remind ourselves of the real treasures of our lives, our families, our friends, our co-workers and neighbors, even our pets.
Let's step outside and see if the neighbor next door needs any help. For those of us church-goers, let's put a little more in the offering plate this weekend so our places of worship have additional funds to tend to the poor and stricken. If it means you don't buy a week's worth of your 64 ounce quadruple macchiatos that you really don't "need" anyway, so be it.
Let's use this moment to reach out to friends or family we may not have spoken to in awhile. To include the ones we have been mad at for so long, we don't even remember why we are mad at them but we don't call because we are too stubborn to be the first to "cave". How childish is that? Really. Call them!
Finally, let's use this opportunity to reenergize ourselves. To remind ourselves how precious every single day is we have on this earth and how fleeting and limited the heartbeats we have left really are. Let's be good to each other. As the famous Mary Kay used to say, "if you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours. You've got plenty."
As always I believe in you, you just have to believe in yourself.
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