Last week a good friend of mine died suddenly in his sleep. I got the call from his neighbor that he had died. We had been planning on getting together for a movie and early dinner and lo and behold he died suddenly three days before this. I was shocked. Though he was 95 years old, he was always active in exercise. It was like he would live forever. Of course, no one on this planet lives forever. We will all transition to the next life. But when it happens so suddenly like this it is like a sudden shock to our emotional and spiritual system. Because I had known Allan for more than 54 years his sudden death jolted me into again thinking of what my life is meant to be all about.

I am more convinced than ever that my life is meant to be about connecting with other people in a kind and loving manner and daily connecting with God in quiet reflection. I say this often but every time someone I know well dies, this thought about life and my purpose in life surfaces again in an even deeper manner. 

The shock of my friends and relatives dying is painful and at the same time very powerful in getting me to think deeper about the purpose of my life in this present moment.

I just had lunch with a close friend.  We probably think a lot different politically but our friendship allows us to talk in a deep and meaningful manner.  Maybe this is what life is all about: To listen to one another in a caring and compassionate manner and not try to convince others how they should be, but simply to explain how I want to be in life: kind, caring, and compassionate and open and receptive to experiencing God.

The older I get, the older my friends also become. The  older my relatives become also. In a few years many of us will have transitioned to the next life. It is part of the journey of my life and their life. It becomes so easy  to forget this and forget what life is all about.

When people close to us die, we can be positively jolted into realizing what life is meant to be all about. This realization will bring hope and sadness at the same time. Sadness for the loss but hope in reflecting on the next life and being able to focus on my journey into the next life.

Life is simply to bring more love into the world. It is simply to experience God’s love. The world doesn’t have to change to make me feel better. I have to change into a more loving person toward everyone so that my corner of the world gets to experience love, which is really God’s love coming to other people through my loving words and actions. My friend who died saw many things different from me, but he was always kind and loving and affirming. As a result, whenever we would get together for brunch, I knew that I would be with a loving and kind person, 

Life becomes so simple when I remain loving and kind toward everyone and never engage in negativity in words, thoughts or actions. The more I am loving toward everyone, the more I experience love. I say this so often but each time I write this and say this, the more I realize how true it is and what life is really all about. I think writing these articles for so many years has helped me tremendously and I hope it has helped you.

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