Thrown Back
/by Mark Nepo
Twenty-six years ago, the tumor growing in my skull vanished and I was thrown back in the streets like Lazarus. Today the rain is a fine mist and I open my face for a long time, receiving water from the sky. All I can say is perhaps falling in love with the world is the bravest thing we can do. I only know that my heart grows stronger every year, a muscle gaining each time I love. This rush of life is all we have and still we struggle to get out of it. Like fish we labor to make it to the sand as if that shore were Heaven. And when thrown back, we can grow bitter if we think we’ve failed or be humbled to accept that waking tomorrow in all of this is being saved.
A Question to Walk With: In conversation with a loved one or friend, describe one way you’ve been asked to accept the nature of life.
Reprinted from Patheos with Mark Nepo's permission.