An Occasion for Reflection

The foes of quiet reflection are at work this morning. Fortunately, they arrived too late. The sojourn at Hopi is almost over. It has been a good time for reflection. I have found those with very little who are very happy and those with much who struggle with sorrow and trial. Hope and indifference live side by side here. They are the neighbor to unlocked potential for all and the petty insecurity of the powerful. In the most important ways Hopi is no different than anywhere else life takes place.

 In this life God sends the rain on the just and the unjust; time and circumstance happen to us all. The question is: to what end? “ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven..” Everything has a time and a season, but everything also has a purpose. The purpose of everything in life is a very personal one.

Life is an opportunity to choose between reconciliation and and estrangement. This is true not only at the divine level, but at every level and in every circumstance. We can be so busy making a living that we forget we are also making a life. Which is more important? Reflection is necessary if for no other reason than that the day will come when we are no longer be able to make a living. On that day we will be left with only the life we have made. “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

The secret is in knowing which bridges to build--and which to burn. To do that successfully a man must know where he is going. He must also know the mistakes he has made along the way. If gray hair is worth anything; know that reconciliation is better than estrangement just as joy is better than sorrow.