WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 31

DEATH IS NOTHING AT ALL

I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I and you are you: whatever we were to each other, that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name; speak to me in the easy way, which you always used.
Put no difference into your tone; wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be forever the same as it always was.
Let it be spoken without an effort, without the ghost of a shadow on it.
Life means more than it ever meant.
It is the same as it always was: there is absolutely unbroken continuity.
I am but waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner…. All is well.

Canon Scott Holland

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 7 - STARFISH

A man and his grandson went for a walk down to the beach. It had been a rough day and the tide had been high. When they arrived they found that hundreds of thousands of starfish and been thrown onto the beach by the storm and they were all dying. Immediately the man started to pick the starfish up and throw them back into the sea. The boy, copying his grandfather’s example, started to do likewise. After about half an hour the boy was getting tired. He straightened up and looked around him. He was struck by the amount of starfish still on the beach. He turned to the old man. “Grandfather, what is the point of this,” he said. “Look at all those starfish dying. What difference can we possibly make?” His grandfather, who was picking up a starfish, turned and looked at the boy right in the eye. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said as turned and threw it into the ocean.

Sometimes, when we look at all the sorrow and suffering in the world, we can feel overwhelmed. Whatever we do to bring a bit of joy into another’s life, we can never erase all the troubles of the world. Instead of getting caught up in the misery, just remember, when we do what we can do, we do make a differen