Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
Sometimes it feels like in the great sperm race of my conception, everybody lost.
Dear Life,
Ah, but even if you were right, there’s a new human race every day, and you only need to run it with all your heart. A poet put these words into the mouth of God: “Those who try with all their hearts we are permitted to save.” Sounds right to me.”
Dear Soul,
I hear that. But lately, I try and try and it doesn’t seem to be enough. Somehow I’m failing at the last moment to put myself totally into it.
Dear Life,
Ah, I see. Your problem is very simple. Your “try” is way over on one side and your “oomph”—your spirited vigor—is on the other side of town taking a nap. If you’ll bring your “try” and your “oomph” together, you will have “tri-oomph”—triumph! Go ahead and try it. I’ll get my trumpet out to herald your victory.
Today, I’ll realize that the way to have a triumphant life is to live my life as stepping stones of triumphant moments. Now, this very moment, I will try with all my heart-soul-mind because the truth about life is still: “seek and you will find.”
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups that met in cities across America in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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