Makarios

We are getting the last of our packing done and are saying our good byes. We are about to head out on the SBU Intercultural Studies 6 months overseas living abroad requirement. Preparation time brings about much contemplation. It is interesting the things that we can take for granted. So many people that mean so much to us, but yet we don't take note of them until we are faced with a departing. This is how it goes, I think, with what, and who, we are blessed with in life. Sometimes it seems like the blessing comes from recognition, a revealing if you will, of the blessings. What does it matter what we have if we do not recognize it. The weight of separation is only felt by a recognition of the object, or subject you will be missing. It is an important lesson to take account of all the blessings in life. Imagine having a mountain of gold that belonged you, and you forgot that it was there. How much more the people in our lives are (or should be) precious to us. How much more should we take note and remember they are there. As we pack our things into boxes, we are reminded how many things are have, how many things we forget about. It is amazing that we can be blessed with so much, yet forget so often. Things, as they are called however, don't smile, they don't call to comfort, they don't challenge our worldviews, they don't ask for blessings on our journeys. I wonder if the blessings come double-fold in recognizing we are blessed to have them. As we say our goodbyes, we are also reminded of the so many family and friends that have had such a huge part in our lives to make note of each one. Every person we leave here in the states has been a note in the symphony of the life that we step away from to start a new song. But this song is inspired by the one that precedes it.

"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

-St. Francis