The Lesson of the Cemetery

Several things nurture my spiritual life in my search to understand my place in the universe.

* Reading through the Gospels and focusing on the life of Jesus, His sayings, His reactions to situations around Him. How should I be different because of that?

* Looking at Nature. The complexity and interaction of everything is overwhelming. Keep thinking or give up thinking?

* Walking through the cemetery. OK, that takes a little explaining.

When I do my walking I usually end up the final approach coming back through the local cemetery. It has been here probably since the founding of the town in the 1850's. This is young when you consider the length of recorded history and how many others there are around the city, state, country, and world. Or the number of those not buried in the land of the final condo's.

On my way back I walk down the middle from the more recent section to the older section. People buried last week to people who died in 1864. There are husbands and wives buried together and sometimes with children. People with the same name scattered all over. On the headstones are long stories and on some just a name. Real flowers, no flowers, and artificial flowers. Husband died in 1956 and wife who died in 1988 next to him. A lady born about the same time as me who died in 1968 on the same headstone as father (died 1992) and mother (1930- .) Veterans of WWI, WWII, and perhaps other wars.

The cemetery is in a peaceful setting. It is well kept. And it still growing. That last part is what always gets my attention. It brings up questions.