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Serving a community of private individuals and professionals
who have the desire to cultivate a life of clarity, compassion,
and creativity. We warmly welcome our new subscribers. Thanks
for joining! Your feedback is encouraged. Please feel free to contact us.
As the year winds down I want to wish everyone a happy holiday
season. For all of you who celebrate Christmas, I hope that
Santa treats you well, and that you stay in contact with the
spiritual significance of the renewal and re-birthing this time
of year can offer you. Please don't get overly caught up in
needing to run around buying presents and trying to make everyone
happy. Instead, please begin to wonder about how you will want
to live in order to feel that your life, and all of life, really
matters!
Today's issue is dedicated to my dear friend and long time prayer
partner, Gussie Lantieri. Gussie was born on February
16, 1923, and she departed this mortal realm on November 12,
2004.
All of us who knew and loved Gussie were deeply touched by
her presence. She lived her life rich in purpose and meaning,
with generosity of spirit, warmth of heart, and a boundless
faith. Gussie is now a citizen of eternity, and she is still
very much a part of our lives, and our prayers. She has been
blessing many people for quite some time.
1. A Story
I first met Gussie about 28 years ago. I was a member of a
community that studied healing, prayer, and spirituality, and
Gussie was the mother of another member about my age. I was
in my twenties and Gussie was in her fifties, and she had a
calming influence that was very special to be around. I was
incredibly unsettled back in those days. I had emerged from
some very trying emotional conditions, and I was running a successful
importing business that was always way short of cash.
When I first met Gussie I quickly lapsed into my sad tale of
woe and grief. I told her about all of the crazy stuff that
had happened to me previously and the current stress of running
my own company. Upon finishing, I paused somewhat out of breath,
felt myself tighten up, and then said "I am in over my
head." Gussie, who was a simple, straightforward woman,
lit up like a light bulb and smiled when I made my trembling
pronouncement. She replied "Ah, 'in over your head' isn't
that wonderful, because that's just where God resides, right
above you."
As our relationship developed, Gussie was like a shock absorber
for me. We would meet once a month or so, I would pour forth
with tales of my current emotional overload, and Gussie would
sit there rocking ever so slightly, nodding, and beaming at
me with a warm understanding look.
After a number of months of fellowship, Gussie invited me to
go to church services being run by a charismatic Catholic priest
in Brooklyn. I had grown up as a Protestant, but I was quite
happy to experience the services that she had told me so much
about. We arrived at a large church about twenty minutes before
the service was due to start, and the entire sanctuary was already
rather full. A couple of Gussie's pray pals had saved us some
room next to them. We slid into the pew, Gussie introduced me,
and quickly they were discussing their prayer schedule for the
evening. Uncle Fred was having cancer surgery, Sally was struggling
in her marriage, and Teddy was applying to college and was hoping
to become a doctor. With the schedule intact, Gussie turned
to me and asked me if I knew how to pray the "Hail Mary",
which I didn't. Don't worry, she said, I will teach you now
by starting out slowly, and you just follow along.
In retrospect, what transpired was a bit surreal. There I was,
a somewhat crazed youth trying to find a way out of the madness,
and I was sitting with a team of "old ladies" chanting
the Hail Mary. Chanting a Buddhist mantra instead, would have
seemed a heck of a lot cooler and more mysterious, but to this
day I still feel a rush of energy when I recall Gussie really
getting into gear. I had a very clear sense that Gussie and
her friends were calling on all of the spiritual power that
had been invested in the Hail Mary by everyone who had prayed
it over the centuries.
By simple straightforward example, and not by verbal instruction
of any kind, Gussie and her friends taught me how to rest in
the spirit of the Lord and be swept away and released from pain,
as one surrendered into the love of God. And surrendering in
any form was a big challenge for me, because up until that time,
being unwilling to surrender was one of the things that had
kept me alive.
I am sitting here now, on a warm December day in Tokyo, with
the window open, the sun streaming in, and the sound of chirping
birds in the trees around my house.
I am sitting here looking at a picture of Gussie, and feeling
a good deal of emotion.
If asked, at first I would have said I was feeling sad. But
upon further reflection, I can say that I am feeling love and
appreciation.
For Gussie, for my other spiritual teachers and friends, for
all of my allies and adversaries, and for each and every circumstance
that has brought me here today.
Living in what some would call "a foreign land" and
realizing that for the first time in my life, I am beginning
to feel at home, within myself.
Thank you Gussie. You are with me still.
2. Live a Life That Matters
WHAT WILL MATTER
By Michael Josephson
Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.
There will be no more sunrises, no minutes, hours, or days.
All the things you collected, whether treasured or forgotten,
will pass to someone else.
Your wealth, fame, and temporal power will shrivel to irrelevance.
It will not matter what you owned or what you were owed.
Your grudges, resentments, frustrations, and jealousies will
finally disappear.
So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans, and to-do lists will
expire.
The wins and losses that once seemed so important will fade
away.
It won't matter where you came from, or on what side of the
tracks you lived, at the end.
It won't matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant
Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.
So what will matter? How will the value of your days be measured?
What will matter is not what you bought, but what you built;
not what you got, but what you gave.
What will matter is not your success, but your significance.
What will matter is not what you learned, but what you taught.
What will matter is every act of integrity, compassion, courage
or sacrifice that enriched, empowered or encouraged others to
emulate your example.
What will matter is not your competence, but your character.
What will matter is not how many people you knew, but how many
will feel a lasting loss when you're gone.
What will matter is not your memories, but the memories that
live in those who loved you.
What will matter is how long you will be remembered, by whom
and for what.
Living a life that matters doesn't happen by accident. It's
not a matter of circumstance but of choice.
Choose to live a life that matters.
* * *
Michael Josephson's "What Will
Matter" is used with permission of the Josephson
Institute of Ethics. ©2006 Michael Josephson, one of
the nation's leading ethicists, is the founder of the nonprofit,
nonsectarian Josephson Institute of Ethics and the premier
youth character education program, CHARACTER
COUNTS! For more information or to make a donation,
please visit
http://www.charactercounts.org.
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