Unfinished Business?

It's good to be reminded, like the children we all are, to clean up our mess.  But even when I am mindful of the scriptural alerts Jesus often gave, my unsustained spurts of energy usually result in negligible progress. The tricky and hard part, is sustained effort.  And also, at least for me, the ability to shift gears, something I do more easily in my '89 Isuzu Trooper than in everyday life.  The unfinished business of life never gets completely done, but I'm hoping for a calm last breath rather than a grudging last gasp! I know it is possible; I have seen it.


We certainly should watch and pray, lest the end of our journey comes  as unexpectedly and perhaps as unwelcome as a thief in the night.  Yet somehow it seems that only imminent, enormous, life-changing and repeated loss is what it takes to sustain the clean-up effort.  Are we slow learners or what? Why live on the edge of known hazardous waste sites?  But we all do it.  Perhaps it's that gnawing need for instant gratification? Perhaps we know it's something else. 


Well, today I got another incentive to keep at my task of cleaning, shredding, tossing, donating, selling and effectively downsizing the "stuff" of my life:  Another classmate is undergoing chemo, another politician is vying for a place in the sun (at any cost), the very poor are still discounted and discarded, the 1% shamelessly flaunt their lust for power, and time marches on. There is plenty of upside-downness in every age, but keeping one's equilibrium seems particularly challenging these days.  I know there will always be poor people, greedy people, evil people, hypocritical people and good people, even really holy people. Therefore, the rush of life need not overwhelm me completely, but it will unless I watch and pray that it won't.