Thursday, November 9, 2017

Life is a beautiful mess

The last month I’ve been thinking a lot about life’s purpose and how we can find happiness here as well as eternal happiness. Life has been so good but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. The last month there’s been lots of ups and downs that I’ve experienced as I’m sure you have as well.
On Monday, my dear aunt Melanie passed away after battling cancer for over 20 years. She will forever be one of my role models and who I hope to be like. She always had a smile on her face and was always seeking a way to make someone else happy. She never complained about what she was going through. I remember she would talk about her mission a lot and one day we talked all day about her mission which really inspired me to consider serving. Melanie was always one to love and serve and I, and so many others, will miss her so much.
This sparked my thinking about life and what I can do to make the most of my life while here. I want to cherish every moment I have and enjoy every relationship created while on earth. Last night, my boyfriend and I were watching the TV show This Is Us and one of the characters had a beautiful take on life. He said it so well, I’m going to just copy what he wrote here for you to read. He said,
I painted this because I felt like the play was about life, you know, and life is full of color and we each get to come along and we add our own color to the painting, you know? And even though it's not very big - - the painting - - you sort of have to figure that it goes on forever, you know, in each direction? So, like, to infinity, you know. 'Cause that's kinda like life. It's really crazy, if you think about it, that a hundred years ago some guy that I never met came to this country with a suitcase. He has a son, who has a son, who has me. So at first when I was painting I was thinking, you know, maybe that was that guy's part of the painting and then down here that's my part of the painting. And then I started to think... well... what if we're all in the painting... everywhere? And what if we're in the painting before we're born? What if we're in it after we die? And these colors that we keep adding, they just keep getting added on top of one another, 'til eventually we're not even different colors anymore. We're just... one thing. One painting. My dad, he's not with us anymore. He's not alive... but he's with us. He's with me every day. It all just sort of fits somehow, even if you don't understand how yet. People will die in our lives - - people that we love. In the future. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe years from now. I mean, it's kind of beautiful, right, if you think about it, the fact that just because someone dies, just because you can't see them or talk to them anymore, it doesn't mean they're not still in the painting. I think maybe that's the point of the whole thing. There's no dying. There's no 'You' or 'Me' or 'Them.' It's just 'Us.' And this sloppy, wild, colorful, magical thing that has no beginning, has no end, it's right here. I think it's us. 

*this is the painting he is referring to*


When I heard this character speak those words I thought to myself that was honestly one of the most beautiful things I’d ever heard. “Just because you can’t see them or talk to them anymore, it doesn’t mean they’re not still in the paining.” 
Our life is made up of so many individual brushstrokes created by interactions with others. And their presence and impact on us is eternal. We, too, make brushstrokes on others’ paintings and we have the possibility to be a part of someone else’s life forever. Life is this beautiful mess that we all help each other through and it ends up being a masterpiece. 
Life is a gift and I’m grateful for the chance I have to live it and to create my masterpiece. 

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