Life happens

" If you do not offer all you have

to the Beloved,

you will live this life free of that pain

which makes it worth living. "

- Shaikh Abu Saeed Abil Kheir

____________________________

the only way to avoid pain

in its many guises

loss, hate, anger,

disappointment, fear

emptiness, isolation

is to avoid life

it can be done!

we can certainly protect ourselves from pain

we can hide behind protective walls of ideology and theology

we can cower in safe places with safe people

we can close our eyes to all of the things around us that rend our hearts,

to battered children,

and refugees

to the plight of people hated because of who they were created sexually

we can indeed avoid all of that

disengaging from the world

and piously reading our religious tomes

singing our songs

saying our prayers

in our sanitized bastions of virtue

but Jesus said, give up all that you have

(and that includes your safety and comfort)

and follow me

into the world

where life happens

it will hurt a little

it will hurt a lot

there will be tears and anguish

but there will also be healing and hope,

and laughter and tears,

and a life

worth the living