Today I had to strike off a second name from my praying list, Debbie has gone to be with her creator and stands triumphant over ill-health, sufferings, anguish and above all the insensitivity of those who never ever have just that tiny room to accommodate another besides themselves. For me, it has been a weekend plagued by severe bouts of sciatica and lack of sleep and now I can empathise with sleep walkers just because their bodies are not in sync with their neurological system. Clawing my way through the webs of despondency that seek to keep me entangled, feeling especially the betrayals and hurts brought on by having to erroneously depend on another who clearly cannot share your situations and needs.

There is an Irish saying that goes thus

“May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life’s passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours.”

And in as much we all would gladly acquiesce to these words, life sometimes is more than just smooth sailing and when the gloom and despondency assails, what will our response be? I feel the hurt of letting people go, not because I have got a pool of available and willing hands but because it is a choice that has to be made, acknowledging that life is a solitary journey and what a pleasure there is when you can get but that one who is willing to walk some distance with you and whilst the pleasure may linger, there must come a time of parting. I take solace in the fact that there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and what glorious hope awaits me as I make my way wearily down this path strewn with so much rubble that every step looks like it just might be my last. However, I glance around and behold many who have had the gauntlet thrown down in their face and have eagerly conceded defeat without a thought of what their life might have been.

Amidst the anguish of the weekend, the memory of my LBJ fills my heart with strength and will to carry on because “Friendship needs no words – it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness.” – Dag Hammarskjold  I know that this tunnel is just that, and at the very end I can espy the glimmer of light shining through and despite my aching bones, I trudge on remembering to exchange words of hope to those that I am privileged to encounter because it is in giving, we receive. I know what lies ahead will make the present pale into insignificance but for the now, I brace myself with strength supplied from on High and plod on. Disregarding the smirks and whispers from those who wallow in their ignorance, the quickly withdrawn hands thrust out spitefully and the desperation of those who failing to attain the heights I have, now seek in absolute futility to pull me to the depths of their woeful existence.

I am being blessed daily with innumerable portions of joy and peace and I choose to acknowledge these, incomprehensible by those who stand with arms akimbo and yet I accept the company of the very few who are raised up on my behalf and to them I gladly extend my arms in warm embrace. So life continues, irrespective of how low I feel because mine is a life of purpose and fulfill it, I must.

Let us remember that we were made to live and not just exist.

פרידה עד שנפגש שוב בתזמון שלו עצמו

Adios!