"I was born modest. But, it didn't last." – Mark Twain

   As Twain's brilliant line suggests, the relative innocence of our infancy cannot last.

   Born into an earth flooded with challenges, we are, as babies, still close to God. Yet, immediately, the earth exerts her pull on us. Our bodies call for food & shelter - and must have it to survive in this world

   As a caregiver, you have already shared the crises of those for whom you cared and helped them through hard chapters in their lives. What about you? What about your personal life crises? How have these affected your life and your caregiving?

   The discussion of Love's principles and energies is meaningless unless you can find your way to a key life choice: Whether to commit (or not) to live Love, or to let your life drift along randomly. 

   History carries the stories of the famous and the unknown who have traveled a journey that can teach each of us:

   Jesus' life may be well known, but we may never have thought of it in stages – his birth; his childhood teachings; the transcendence of his adulthood. What do these stages tell us about grace and Love? 

   Before Jesus, other life stories were recounted in ways that can help us. Homer describes the classic hero's stages through The Odyssey – the enduring myth of Ulysses (or Odysseus). Dante's Inferno describes a journey through the stages of hell and the guidance provided by the Virgil. Milton tells a parallel story in Paradise Lost.  

   Rather than think of these stories as remote from us, think of how useful these allegories can be as you evaluate your own life journey. What do you know about your spiritual energy? How do you encounter the world at this stage of your life?

   Consider the life pathway (obviously, just a sketch) you have already traveled:  

• YOUR INFANCY: Were you lucky enough to receive Love from your mother (or someone else) right after your birth? Physicians know what happens when babies do not receive loving care. Elizabeth Krueger, M.D., a neonatologist at Nashville's Baptist Hospital, says, "Babies who are not held and loved often die." Whereas, if your infancy was celebrated, you gained a greatly increased chance to live God's Love in this world in ways that can ease the pain of others.

• YOUR CHILDHOOD & ADOLESCENCE: From your childhood through your adolescence, most of
  your life was still at the mercy of adults. Did you feel loved during this period? We all know that children who are raised with the mean hand of abuse and hatred, or the ignoring back of indifference, are likely to grow into adults who repeat this behavior. As a former prosecuting attorney and judge, and more recently in my ministry to prisoners, I have seen so many cases of criminals who were abused as children. At the same time, many survive this abuse and sometimes find Love in spite of their hard childhood. Others were lucky enough to experience Love as young people and feel Love growing within them through this transitional stage. 

• YOUR ADULTHOOD: As you became more respobsible for your life choices, which paths did you take? We can allow the pull of the world to drag us down or lift us up or, more typically, some of both. We all know people we refer to as "blessed" from birth and those who seem "cursed." Most of us lie somewhere in between. What about YOU? Unless you have given up on your life, you have a powerful set of choices awaiting you in this world, choices which can enrich your life – or poison it.  

    The three stages outlined above offer the most rudimentary kind of sketch. They do not, in any way, describe the searing nature of some of your life events. They don't touch upon your joy, your boredom, your everyday encounters with the world

    The purpose of reflecting on your life journey is not only to consider what it has been, but what your life might yet hold and how you will chose to encounter your world. Everyone who chooses Love is certain to be blessed – especially if they are able to do so during the hardest times. All of us have a great opportunity to grow by engaging Love's energy.

   Love is not a one time choice. It is a daily and hourly and moment-by-moment decision.

   Love's energy is always present and available to us. What needs nurturing is our human ability to choose Love in our encounters.

   As you consider your life, as you reflect on the enormous range of Love's energies available to you in this world, you will discover powerful life choices that others have overlooked or cast aside in their own lives. Among these choices include three broad life attitudes:

   1) Cynicism: Turning your back on Love, perhaps because you, personally, have been hurt, or because you see no "use" in Love.

   2) The Ordinary Path: Engaging in Loving encounters randomly but mostly living your life in the apparent comfort of the status quo. This is, of course, the most common choice;

   3) Love: This is the rarest choice – and the most gratifying. Those who live Love choose this way of life through a new or renewed commitment. They realize that a commitment means nurturing all of Love's energies every day.

   Choosing Love is wise but difficult. It requires letting go of some of our old patterns of thinking and acting. But, choosing Love is not drudgery. It is the pathway to joy – a joy that will illuminate both your life and the lives of all you encounter.

   Are you ready to choose Love in a new and even more powerful way? Are you ready to sustain and enrich your commitment to celebrate the one life you have been given?

-Rev. Erie Chapman