A Reflection on Aging with Vitality
What will you do with you one wild and precious life?
By Eileen T. Geller
"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
Mary Oliver, from her poem, "The Summer Day."
We each have but one life to live, and to give, though most days it seems neither precious nor wild. But it is our life-our one life. And no matter how many days, weeks, months, or years are left in it, our one life is precious. When faced with a life-changing illness-or the reality of aging and eventual death-many people decide to 're-group and re-evaluate' both their priorities and their way of life.
And that is good.
Because, in the normalcy of every-day routine, we can become mired in 'not seeing the forest through the trees.' In fact, amid the hustle and bustle and scheduled chaos of daily life, we often miss both the forest and the trees. And our myopic culture, with its narrow vision of what it means to be human, doesn't help.
The fragmented culture, with its relentless focus on superficiality and materialism, trains us to see only a small part of a single branch, on the all-but-invisible tree of life. Sadly, too often, our diminished life-view consists of a solitary leaf, isolated from branch and tree, roots and soil, rain and sunshine, day and night -- isolated from other trees, and from the life-saving eco-system of consoling grace.
In other words, focusing too narrowly on the troubles of everyday life can cause us to miss out on a kind of photosynthesis of the soul-a process in which light is turned into growth. After all, a soul, like a plant, cannot grow without exposure to the sun. So it is, that very one of us needs light from true wisdom to shine warmth into our lives, to help us to grow in lived compassion.
And we need the strength, courage, endurance, and fortitude to face our future with hope, to continue to grow in life-wisdom, to live our lives attentively, and to be instruments of mercy to our families, friends, associates, and community.
If there exists a blessing in the midst of aging, illness, and grief, it is this: that we are 'forced' to slow down, to look at and to see our life for what it is-to see the materialism, careerism, egocentrism, and brokenness that mark much of our daily existence.
And to make changes, if we dare.
Elemental concerns are not pushed out of our lives, so much as crowded out. For much of our lives, the busyness and the noise of 'all-that-needs-to-be-done' crowds out the time that should be allotted to our interior life -- and to respite from the storm. Eventually, through the process of aging, illness, or grief, we begin to reflect more frequently on what is most important in our lives, on family and friends, honor and integrity, the legacy for which we would like our loved ones and associates to remember us, and on how it is that we will navigate the shoals of this final journey...
The temptation can be to look back instead of forward, to imagine that life is ended instead of continuing in a new and ever-different way. Mary Oliver's inquiry is, at its heart, an invitation to hope, a reminder that each day, each moment in life is intended to be lived with mindfulness and joy, reflection, and hope.
"What will I do with my one wild and precious life?"
What will I do, this day, with my one life? What choices will I make, today, to honor the precious gift of this one day -- this fragile day, filled as it is with stresses and struggles, pain and uncertainty, grief and worry?
Maybe I will decide to live simply, to love more and to listen better, to seek out and to offer forgiveness, to cherish my beloved, to be kind to myself and to others, to live for the good beyond myself, and to leave a legacy of faith, and hope, and love, to all who encounter me.
That would be wild indeed.
And infinitely precious.