Yesterday's Wordle answer: SKULL

I couldn’t believe it! Sometimes a truth smashes into you from many directions at once. I sat up and paid attention.

So, yesterday, the answer to the daily Wordle puzzle was “SKULL”. This wouldn’t have raised my eyebrow, except that the day before, I was reading all about skulls for a course I’m taking. I learned that each morning, ancient Benedictine monks kneel in front of a bench that held 3 things: a portion of scripture, a candle (to read said scripture) and a skull- most likely one of their predecessors. To our western minds, meditating on our mortality isn’t terribly in vogue but in that context, they were being reminded daily to not waste your life on trivialities. Remember what matters. Life is fleeting and precious. Hold eternity in your hearts.”

Or as dear old Major Valetta England once told me, “Live in the precious present”.

I like that!

Living in the precious present causes me to slow down, to truly savour my morning coffee. It caused me to eat our Valentine’s treat of strawberry cheesecake last night with a tiny coffee spoon instead of wolfing it back. It caused me to put down my phone and instead, go for a walk with my friend. It reminded me that as my body is ageing, I need to move it, so I got off the couch, and swam some laps. It reminds me to keep short accounts because I never want to regret that I missed the chance to say, “I’m sorry”.

Then finally, yesterday, I looked at my calendar and realized that I need to turn my attention to wrapping up the review of the book I’m presenting at my book club next month.

Death again!

But then, with fresh eyes, I understood that Paul Kalanithi’s best selling memoir, “When breath becomes air” isn’t a story primarily of death and dying but of how he, a neurosurgeon with a fatal diagnosis, chose to each moment in the precious present.

Sometimes, God speaks to us in whispers. But this week, He blew the trumpet.

“Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom”.

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