I made a collosal error this week. I forgot how short life is.

I thought I had time. I thought I could get there this week.

The truth? I didn’t have the courage to look death in the face of a high school friend who was dying. I could write a list of ten reasons why I couldn’t make the 35 minute drive to see my friend, Sally McDonald Demers before she passed away yesterday. And all I can come up with now, is the reality that I didn’t have the courage to make it happen. I had the privilege of seeing her at our high school reunion last Fall, when she was smiling and laughing, and not letting on that her cancer had returned for a final battle. Perhaps that’s how I’m choosing to remember her.

I’m not crazy about sharing all of the details of my life, my mistakes, my shortcomings, my failures. But sometimes, when I find wisdom within the muddy moments, I think it’s ok to put it out there.

So, my lesson today is simple. Life is short. Seriously. That’s no joke. It’s not a “saying”. It’s not an old wives tale. It’s for real. A few years ago I wrote a personal quote/motto on my Facebook page that says, “Life is too short to take it for granted, and too long to NOT do what makes you happy”. It’s my reminder to cherish even the mundane moments of life, and to be courageous enough to make changes if I’m not happy. It’s a reminder that even on my darkest days, the toughest times, take a good deep breath and realize, it’s all ok, because I’m still breathing. Which means I can get through this, which means, I have something to learn which is why I’m still here. So yeah. . .deep breath. Laughter. Gratitude.

Thank you, Sally.

I’m considering beginning every blog post with “As I get older. . .”, because there is glaring truth in the wisdom that comes from age and life experience.

So…as I get older, I am becoming less and less tolerant of peoples’ BS. Maybe my BS is meter is just sharpening over time, but I feel smoke coming out of my ears as I watch people spew blatant lies and warped perceptions.

Perhaps what irks me the most is the hypocrisy of religion. There is nothing more hypocritical to me than a people who claim to be “Christian” but can’t seem to remember a single thing about Jesus’ life and teachings. Our beautifully humble new Pope, Pope Francis, has spent the first part of his papacy laying the ground work for how a true leader of the church models the behavior of a true Christian. He has shed the pomp and circumstance and grandeur of past Popes. His first actions have been going “to the back of the line” so-to-speak, to reach his hand to God’s most forgotten and marginalized.  And for this, he has been criticized. Huh?

Have you seen Jesus? Have you read any part of the New Testament? Do you remember the story of Jesus going into the temple and overturning tables at the hypocrisy and misuse of that sacred space for profit and personal gain? Have you heard the story of the Good Samaratin, the prostitute, the leper, the tax collector??? Any of these stories of Jesus NOT turning his back on ANYONE ring a bell? Is there somewhere in the Bible where it says that Jesus died for everyone…except….?

I struggle every day to be more like Jesus. To be more like Mother Mary. In the smallest of ways I have to say to myself, “If I am going to claim to be a Christian. And I am going to claim to love and follow Jesus then I have to step into that commitment with both feet.” The most extreme example is with the death penalty. If I claim to be a Christian, which means I believe that Jesus died for everyone’s sins, then I have to believe that I do NOT have the right to kill ANYONE. Does it mean that there are circumstances where I would WANT to kill someone? Of course. But I don’t have the right to do it. Nor do I have the right to “hire” the government to do it. I just don’t. I believe in the depth of my soul that when we inject a killer to kill him, we become the very thing we despise. Punto.