I was at a memorial service yesterday. I was also facilitating the experience. Every time I lead a funeral or memorial, a variety of thoughts arise in me.
Every person is a gift. Everything is a gift. There is meaning in rituals that celebrate the gift of a life, particularly in a memorial/funeral service. A memorial/funeral allows us to tell stories about the gift a person was to us since every person brings into being a unique gift in a unique way. At its best, the ritual is a celebration of preciousness, of a gift given and received. The ritual celebrates a particular person who offered their particular gift in their particular way in each particular moment of living. It recognizes that each gift is an echo or reflection of a person’s preciousness.
Yesterday, I was reminded over and over again in the particularity of this memorial of how precious this person was and how precious each person there was and how precious we all are. There were lovely stories of ways this person had touched others and the stories spoke good news for us in the room and for the others who had know this person.
Also, there were some threads of the story that were unfinished. That is the way of all individual stories as they flow into the Great Story unfolding since the beginning.
So the question in every moment is how to celebrate preciousness in ourselves and others.
- Don’t wait.
- Name it now.
- Tell stories now.
- Say “thank you” now.
- Be the precious gift you are now.
Infinitely Precious 