SPRING 2010Tom Etherington
Mullica Hill MMReflecting on anything recently has been a bit difficult. My life has been deeply involved with the little bits of “things that must be done” that consume most of our energies—mostly minor stuff, but time and attention consuming. A few worthwhile subjects presented themselves to my attention, but my mind was distracted and I just couldn't develop any of them into anything worthwhile. As the deadline approached Phil and I decided we could just run without my Reflections this time.
But I remember the words of Thoreau, who said, “I … require of every writer, first or last, a simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men’s lives.” So a simple and sincere account of my life is what I am offering this time around. These past few months I have been preoccupied with dealing with the personal effects that my aunt, the last of her generation, left behind. Her will specified that all of her personal effects were to come to me, but in a conversation we had when she wrote her will she told me that she really expected me to distribute her things according to a list that she had prepared.
Shortly after that conversation she had a severe stroke and, for the past six years, has not been able to communicate anything more detailed than pleasure or displeasure at the meal offered to her. She never gave me the mentioned list. I did come across a 26-year-old list in her desk which divided some of her personal effects between the families of her and her husband, but nothing recent or specific about persons. So we, members of both sides of the family, met several times, using the old list as a partial guide, to divide things among ourselves. My aunt lived in Connecticut. A series of trips to Connecticut for dealing with stuff, arranging for a memorial service and reception at Mystic Seaport, and burial at sea (N 41°18.5' - W 71°58.5' to be precise) left my attention divided in many directions.
But this is the life I have lead and it has not been a life apart from the love of God. The Word is neither in heaven nor beyond the sea but it is in our mouths and in our hearts that we may do it. God will not leave us or forsake us. In dealing with the natural possessiveness of humans, spiritual living is put to the test and holding people more important than stuff is an opportunity to learn. Sometimes we do not give even ourselves a simple account of our own lives, but try to make our lives into something more to our liking or expectation. Spirituality is not a thing apart but is in the attentive walking of the daily path, wherever that may take us.
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Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 09:08 PM
