Life Finds A Way

Life finds a way…. In the spring weeds that miraculously break through the cracks and crevices of our driveways; in newborn creatures of all shapes and sizes who instinctively grasp on to and grow into this new world they’ve entered; in those of any age fighting illness & disease who with the help of the science of medicine and dedicated health care workers unexpectedly find healing…life finds a way.  In this season of the year, we focus on the power and hope of new life, rebirth, and the joy and warmth the sun gives after cold dark winter days. The plethora of nature’s colors in full bloom enlivens our bodies, souls, and minds. This time of year the beauty and wonder of life on is on full display. Life, mysteriously and awe-inspiringly, microscopically and macroscopically, finds a way.

But life finds a way not only in the new, the young, and the beautiful. Perhaps that’s one of the important messages that Easter brings to those open to it. Sometimes life finds a way…even in the darkness, the desperate, the despairing, and yes, even in death itself. That paradox is one that those of us who work in end of life settings see, hear, and experience in a multitude of ways as midwives for the soul. Each day we and others around us aspire with our presence and compassion to embody this seeming contradiction. Each day we stand with patients, families, and staff witnessing pain, suffering, fear, uncertainty, courage, and love incarnated in a diverse array of situations while we journey “in the valley of the shadow.” Life still finds a way. Is not the ancient Easter story centered on an unjust death that caused those who followed the Jewish rabbi Jesus to question all that they thought they knew and loved, only to be blindsided by the impossibility of an empty tomb?

Might this be the good news we can grasp hold of in the shadow of Easter this year? As weeds irritatingly explode through small openings to make their presence known; as seeds die to what they once were to provide the raw materials that sprout into new forms of life; as unfathomable and unlikely it is that a tomb can be empty; wo life inexplicably finds a way. Amen.

Brian is a gym rat, lover of ‘80s Hair Bands and Heavy Metal music, a history wonk, and seeker of the Way of Jesus.

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