I Am Thankful For Being Alive

My dad always says, “There is nothing permanent in this life except for the rising and the setting of the sun”. To this day, I feel that his words have an astounding aura and an amazing grace. Being alive means more than just breathing and living life. It’s about rising to the shine of soul that makes us aware of being thankful for ‘who we are’ and ‘who we become’ as we move through the tunnels of time in this life. Being thankful for being alive is to accept that life is mortal in many ways. It becomes fatal when we get ruthless with nature, when we are merciless for the vulnerable and when we are injurious to our self through our actions. Life ceases to exist when we freeze our love for others, when we create endless hurdles and envy for others and when we plug out the possibilities to change. In this carnage of emotions through life, we forget to summon our mind with the time when we were born with clean slate and clenched hands and the time when we shall depart with folded eyes and bare hands.

Being alive is to honor the chastity of our soul that helps us to be thankful for the virtues of nature, an immortal gift of the supreme lineage. Being thankful today, tomorrow and forever is to enlighten myself for the blessings that I have realized and the blessings that are unrealized. I am thankful for the milieu that wakes me up to the glare of the sun and to the hope that today is good and tomorrow shall be better. I am thankful for being ‘who I am’ till ‘I am’. As Meister Eckhart once said, “If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, “thank you,” that would suffice”.                                     

                                  Happy thanksgiving everyone.

Copyright (c) 2010-2011 Dharbarkha.blogspot

Photo Courtesy: Sunrise Church

A Christmas By The Sidewalk

Every year the Christmas bells rhyme like the wind chimes to announce the breeze of a new beginning and a gust of light. White crystals of the yuletide bring along the bustle of life to swing in the nativity of grace. In this holiness, a drum roll to cheer, gaiety and jubilee is our jazz for the season. Amid this pizzazz and panache we loose sight of life’s grey colors, the ones that dwell by the sidewalk. Such achromatic state is a hue of suffering and despondency. A   nest without a shelter as the sad face of humanity nestles glory into gloom. As a cliché of lost hope, such sadness raises churning questions. The thought of an open air Christmas in the chills of the weather and without the warmth of a family or the sparkle of companionship, makes fervor a faceoff with survival.

As a jolt of life, loosing one’s abode is like bereaving a mansion of sentiments and emotions. Being homeless is neither crime nor bad karma. It also isn’t a social sarcasm but indeed our devoir to share opportunity to fill dearth. As a social reciprocal, it opens our eyes to vivacity in humanity and its many prodigious colors under the sun, the stars and the moon. Shiela McKechnie once quoted, “People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are people without homes.” Such depression of spirits from crippled events of life makes one wandering for care and hope.  

This Christmas like each year is about sharing fervent with family, friends and all our loved ones. It’s about feast and festivities, radiance and wisdom, poise and prosperity. Most of all, it’s about giving back by feeding the hungry, clothing the needy and serving the ill. As the Bible quotes, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” Veiling the sorrow from Wall Street to Main Street through sharing uncountable blessings shall make Christmas a wreath of our existence. So let’s jingle with the bells in merriment of today and pray that tomorrow the world is a better place to jive, tomorrow we connect with each other as our cosmic brothers and sisters and tomorrow giving glee is grasping the serendipity of our soul. With discovering the many faces of Christmas and the uniqueness of it’s traditions in each heart at home or homeless, shall make this Christmas and every other a destination of joy, triumph and fulfillment.

Copyright (c) 2009 - present Dharbarkha.blogspot
Photo Courtsey: edgeboston.com