A PERSONAL MOMENT OF TRUTH

On this 4th of July 2015, I'm thinking about what is most meaningful to me at this stage of my life. Of course there are the obvious things: my wife, our children, and my family at large; my ability to still be in reasonably good health with a fair amount of vitality at my age; the fact that I'm still involved in the ministry, though part-time (which is the way I want it); and a wonderful place to live that is both comfortable and rustically beautiful (the kind of place I've always wanted to live)
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Those things add up to a very nice life and one for which I am extremely grateful. I could add to those a whole host of great memories drawn from years gone by: people, experiences, and places I've been.

Last Monday I stood at the grave of Robert Frost in Old First Congregational Church in Bennington, VT. I was mesmerized by the fact that here lay the body of a man whose name and works I have known for most of my life. Among my favorite of his poems are Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, Birches, Mending Wall, and certainly, The Road Not Taken. Someone planted a birch tree right next to his grave. 

Also in that cemetery are the graves of several soldiers who fought in the Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777. Their names have long ago been forgotten with the possible exception of those whose history is directly linked to them. However maudlin that may come across to some people (although I don't know why), I found being there deeply inspiring. It was a profound moment.

Standing at the grave of someone I have admired for his thinking and writing all my life, and also at the graves of those who had fallen during a significant battle of the American Revolution in order for us to live freely, somehow seemed like a perfect blend of truth to me. I am not sure that I can express it the way I'm feeling it, but express your life joyfully and creatively, compassionately and appreciatively because we are all here for but a short time; but we are called to live as if life really matters. Those who died so very long ago now, died for no less a purpose.