Mystic Musings: Lent 3/24

“Tenderly, I now touch all things, knowing one day we will part.”

St. John of the Cross, a 16th century mystical poet

There have been so many times that I have heard people who have said the best days of my life were the final days spent after a terminal diagnosis. One would think it would be the opposite—the looming sentence of death hanging over a person like a cloud of poisonous air. But so often we hear, “I lived more in those last two years than I did in my entire life.”

Photo by Rod Long @rodlong

I make it a practice every year to see as many of the Academy Award-nominated films as I can before the Oscars airs. It’s been sort of a family tradition that goes way back to when my children were young and our family published an every other month newsletter titled Sacred Images which was a review of movies from a spiritual perspective. If we were still doing that the documentary Come See Me in the Good Light would have gotten on our list for sure.

Come See Me in the Good Light documents Colorado’s 10th poet laureate, Andrea Gibson during her last two years of life. In the movie she talks about how the diagnosis led her to cultivate deep gratitude for life, a heightened awareness of the present moment and finding joy in the ordinary moments of each day like hearing a bird sing or feeling the wind on their face.

One day we will part from this life, writes St. John of the Cross. Touch everything as if it is your last day. Greet everyone as if it will be your last greeting. Breathe the spring air as if it will be your last breath. Look at your loved ones through the eyes of eternity.

Sit quietly. Breathe deeply. When you feel grounded and in touch with your body watch this video of Andrea Gibson’s poem, Tincture.