The Stream of Life and Love

One of the final pieces of a low-key but beautiful birthday was watching the movie, "Antonia's Line." For the first two minutes, I thought it was going to be too grim, but it evolved into a loving view of a woman returning to her Dutch hometown at the end of World War II, and the intertwining of her life (and that of her daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter) with the lives of villagers, some charming, one or two quite odious. There were some wonderful lines (at least in the subtitle translations), one of which was, "Life wants to live."

Life wants to live. 

I guess the latest in a succession of mass shootings proves that some people aren't alive, and don't want others to live either. These people may not always carry guns; they may attack us in other ways. I have been re-thinking my early church training in this regard; certainly someone willing to shoot innocent people cannot be a high "love priority" for me. And if, as I suspect, the young suspect's channel to the divine stream of love is entirely blocked, then it really won't be helpful to spend time trying to forgive him either. What can I do? Honor those who were killed, knowing that they are in the divine and eternal stream of love, and then turn away from the event and focus totally on the people and situations who nurture human, animal, and plant life on earth, and our air and water. Do the things I love. Support others who live joyously and courageously and lovingly. Create a more beautiful world starting from within me. Flow with the stream of life and love. If it were up to me, there would be no guns, no weapons of any kind. Fortunately, those who shoot bullets into the stream of life cannot ultimately stop its flow. The ammunition falls to the stream bed having served no long-term purpose, because "life wants to live" and it will keep living and flowing.