THE BRICKS & MORTAR OF WHO WE ARE by Jim McGuiggan

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THE BRICKS & MORTAR OF WHO WE ARE

“There are foundational elements…people… that are the brick and mortar of who we are. People that are so deeply embedded that we take their existence for granted until suddenly they’re not there. And we collapse into rubble…..” (Daniel Cerone)

Thank God for people (young or old) who look out for us.
But if we’re very fortunate we recognize early the saving power of these unheralded people and live with the joy and strength they bring to us and we find ourselves better than we would be if they hadn’t been in our lives. And part of that inspiration is there because we treasure them so much that we desire to please them by living in honor and that desire gives us power to keep from sinking into contented mediocrity. But it’s more than that, isn’t it; they enable us, we feel, to rise above where we are into someone worth their trouble.
Thank God for people (young or old) who inspire us.

The noted Scottish author, Robert Louis Stevenson’s poor health meant he lived, as someone put it (I can’t recall who), “a lifelong crucifixion.” But from childhood he was blessed by a tender and patient care-giver he called “Cummy”.* I enjoy many of his letters but few as much as the one in which, many years later, after he had become famous, he wrote to tell her how good she had been to him, a very sick little boy. He said he had often hoped he would become “someone worth talking about” if for no other reason than that Cummy’s trouble over him would not be wasted. Well it wasn’t wasted (love’s efforts are never wasted because it’s the motivation that makes them worth talking about). They write letters to such people as Cummy and they sing songs and write books and make movies about them. RLS lived a gallant and cheerful life from the cross he always hung on and to a profound degree it was due to his tender old nurse that was looking out for him.
Thank God for people (young or old) who see our need and embrace the trouble that is us and embrace it FOR us.

With his health deteriorating and coming to a close Stevenson wrote:

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie
Glad did I live and gladly die
And I laid me down with a will

This be the verse you grave for me

‘Here he lies where he longed to be

Home is the sailor, home from the sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.’

Thank God for people who help us to earn a fine death.

Praise to a GOD who looks out for us and wants to look out for us

* His care-giver was Alison Cunningham and one of my fine grandchildren is called Allison Cunningham. Someone who cares a lot and gives a lot.