The View from the West Mesa

Lent can remind us of our mortality and sober our thinking and attitudes that we allow slack during other parts of the year. But the realization of our mortality need not be morose or defeatist in its affect on us. Indeed, if noticing our own mortality helps us to stop and refocus on God, we can instead rejoice, grasp, and look forward to the Life immortal that He has given us and promised forever. Acknowledging our mortality prepares us to let go of impermanence, of deterioration, of illness and even of death. We can let go of death as a threat, as something to be feared and avoided at all costs. Rather, we can accept it knowing that it is but a beginning. A beginning to Life, real Life that will have no end. A Life with and in God in an even more perfect manner than we can experience in our current bodies.This anticipated transition, of becoming and not ending, has formed the basis of faith for more than one disciple in the history of the church. It has consistently brought ...

While in therapist school one of the exercises involves crafting your own timeline. You are asked to include major milestones, family members, significant events, and whatnot. This timeline isn’t just a history rehearsal, but is carried into the future – projected milestones and deaths of important people and family members. The idea is to review the people and events that have shaped your history, and then to “look into your future” and anticipate other shaping events. Writing down the actuarial expected dates of others’ deaths can be eye opening, revealing both their mortality and the relatively nearness of that mortality. This interest in mortality is not limited to therapy students however. The Christian tradition, especially the monastic schools also appreciate acknowledging and accepting death – one’s own. This has a number of affects. One is that we must face our mortality and grasp it as real. No matter how well we may feel at the moment, or how well life is working for us...