Last week will go down in history as one of the best weeks of my life. I will not bore you with my happiness. But so many good things happened every day, I was afraid something really terrible was just around the corner. You know how life is… Just when things are going well and you relax, wham!
I wonder if this great week was the result of counting my 1,000 gifts – i.e., maybe I had a great week because of a change in perspective as I have been writing down ten things I am thankful for every morning. A habit, which, by the way, I intend to keep up for as long as I can hold a pen in my hand.
But no, most of the things that happened were factual and real. They were no matter of interpretation.
The only cloud – and it was a big one, though it did not affect me directly – was the death of Robin Williams. He made so many of us laugh and forget our daily struggles, but he could not get over his own. Such a sad, sad story.
As if by accident, but we all know there are no accidents in this world, I happened to listen to “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.” Some of the lyrics stood out: “And as for fortune, and as for fame… they are illusions… they’re not the solutions they promise to be…”
Famous people, rich people – they are people just like us. And they need hope. Hope that this life can be lived decently and that the next life will be infinitely easier and, well, perfect. For those of us who have found hope in Christ, this life is a lot more bearable. The next life can be anticipated with assurance. And those two gifts – hope for now and hope for the future – can be counted every morning.
Rest in peace, funny, sad maestro Robin Williams!