THE ROMANCE OF LIVING

Occasionally I read something that I like to share with others, usually my female friends and family, but good for the men as well. Today is one of those days. For about 10 years now I have returned to reading a book of daily readings by a woman named Sara Ban Breathnach, "Simple Abundance, A Daybook of Comfort and Joy." It was a very popular book for a time in women's circles. I am now on my second copy of the book. I gave copies to my girls and some friends and influenced others to buy the book. Today's reading spoke of where I am currently in my heart and I want to share it here.

"...I was created in a burst of passion, for romance. So were you. Plumb the female psyche and you will find an elegy of romantic remorse--the unobtained, the undone. Melancholy fragments of unrequited loves that stretch from our cradles to our graves. Regrets not necessarily caused by lovers who chose to live without us, so much as by recollections of the things we loved once but learned to live without. It could be the novel you abandoned writing, the art fellowship in Paris you never pursued, the black velvet cape that finally found you at an antique stall but you passed up because, where would you wear it? (Everywhere.) The love you couldn't return, the love that frightened you, the love that you were afraid to express. The loving gesture that died in hesitation. The romance of living that we let slip away every day because real life forces us into prudence."

We can all add our remorses to the list. I suppose one of mine would be the unsung song. Many are still young enough to follow their hearts. Some of us can only dream of what we could have done. We all can do whatever we are still capable of doing. I will always remember the sign we once had on our refrigerator which said that large occasions for serving God seldom come but small occasions come daily. I hope that I continue to take the small opportunities when I hear that small voice within me. I hope that you do to. Peace!