The Ends of Life

In the middle of life so many things seem so important, and probably they are -- at least some of them.  There is as well a clutter of things to be done, careers to be established or changed, schools coming to an end.  There is family and their care.  So many needs, so little time.  But the ends of life -- its beginning and end -- are less cluttered, more free.  They are times of less care, fewer demands shouting all at once.

At the beginning there is a freedom in reliance on the adults in one's life and a wonder that makes each day so new, unhampered by the sameness and care waiting down the road.  And at the end, while less dramatic, there is also a serenity as we let go, sometimes reluctantly, of what life has been and move within, to greater depths for the lessening of life's breadth.  It is a contemplative time, a time to move out of your body and into your heart.