Savoring it all.

Maybe I am hard-hearted. When I try to console the heartsick. Because. In a way. I tell them to get over it. Relatively quickly. To get on with life. In happy and joyful ways. That can be cruel. After all, they have a right to grieve. For as long as they want.  But still, I aggravate.  Especially the devout. The deeply religious. They’ve just lost a loved one. I know what it’s like. I’ve lost the dearest, sweetest woman. My wife for almost four decades. But here’s the difference. I’m not religious. Instead, I’m spiritual. I believe in a creator. I believe in an afterlife. For everyone. Good and bad people alike. One doesn’t have to pass a religious test. In order to be saved. Life just happens to be on-going. In spiritual form. Deeply religious people are supposed to believe that, too.  But I’m not so sure that they all do. Some have serious doubts. So they lament. The loss. They are fearful. That there’s no afterlife. Nothing. They find it difficult to imagine a loved one in a spiritual paradise.  Thriving in another dimension. But that’s exactly what I encourage them to do. Imagine. Imagine. Imagine beyond the slightest doubt. Be happy. Be joyful. Get on with life. Savoring it all. –Jim Broede