My Work Is Not Yet Done

Dedicated to my cousin Sandy Peddle Chapman Wardle on what would have been her 61st birthday. Though it has been a year, your light continues to brighten our hearts, in which you shall always live.
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I may have one minute,
I may have one hour,
I may have one more day.
It may be one week,
It may be a month,
I may live for one more year, or for sixty more years,
but my work, it is not done.
I still have so much to learn,
I still have healing that needs to seep through every fiber of my being,
I still have to learn how to be more kind and compassionate,
but also allow myself to feel chasms of grief, seething anger and every other emotion that I face at different moments in my life.
May I learn to be a leader while never forgetting humility,
May I balance my need for solitude with the realization that it is ok to need people,
May I continue to learn what to let go of, and what to remember, in order that I may fight injustice and abuse both nearby and afar.
Finally, may others one day remember me as we remember you today: a person who lived life to the fullest, jam-packed with kindness, optimism, laughter, and love.
Mark Andrew Nouwen
(Below: With my cousin Sandy. July 2013.)