This magic moment

This magic moment!

The celebrations of the Mexican Dia de Muertos and the western Christian All Saints and All Souls days focus us on our ancestors. We recall those we have known and loved in life who are gone from us here on this Earth in this mode of being. We acknowledge with love that they have gifted us with their knowing, insight and wisdom. They are part of who we are now, even though they are physically not present. We carry them in our hearts and minds, in our memories and in our very being. Who they were is present in who we are.

A thought that springs to mind as we ponder this reality is that who we are now is being imprinted on those around us. We, too, will one day be still present in the lives of those who come after us. I’m not just thinking of those who are kin, but of those with whom we come in contact in deep or casual ways in our everyday going about the business of being us: the way we greet or ignore others, the way we give and receive in sharing what we have, the way we offer our listening ears and helping hands. Future generations are being molded in and through us whether we are conscious of that fact or not. Surely we should pay it some attention now and then.

Kathy Sherman has the intriguing lyric: “Everything before us brought us to this moment standing on the threshold of a brand new day!” That is, all that has gone before us in the astounding unfolding creation is present in each of us and all of us. And we in our unique and apparently inconsequential existence are contributing to the tomorrow that we wish for the future.

So how we walk and smile and talk and work and play are all factors in a much larger context than we can imagine. We are not only the fruit and harvest of the past, we are the seed of the future.