On one of my many visits to housebound members of a former congregation, I asked these wonderful people (in their 90’s) what they would do differently if they had an opportunity to live their lives again. Three changes repeated themselves in various ways: will spend more time with family, siblings and friends; would want to take more risks in their lives; will live lives so that they could leave something more eternal behind.
Underlying all of this is the thought that what we all will yearn for, as we look back in our lives, will be an opportunity experience more of those magic moments of giving, which in retrospect seem so far in between. Simple acts of kindness are the footsteps on the road to happiness. They are what carry us down the worn and messy roads of our faith traditions. Here is a plea for being and doing – maintaining a good balance.
There is a direct correlation between the degree of service one experiences and the level of happiness one feels. Scientists will tell us that when one feels beauty, love, harmony, tranquillity, admiration, wonder, etc, very real things occurs in our physical world and life. We exude specific chemicals through the positive emotions flowing through our bodies, triggering a multiplicity of significant biological events that literally alter the chemical composition of who we are.
At every juncture of our lives, we are given the power or the means to alter dramatically our view of the world in which we live. Shall we exude fear or will it be love? May we give love and affection today so that all those around us will produce the rest that is necessary for a wonderful day! It may be someone in my own household, a colleague at work, the Big Issue vendor that I pass everyday or just a total stranger.
