{"id":2074,"date":"2011-12-22T22:25:38","date_gmt":"2011-12-23T03:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/blissblog\/?p=2074"},"modified":"2011-12-22T23:01:13","modified_gmt":"2011-12-23T04:01:13","slug":"feathers-on-the-breath-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/12\/feathers-on-the-breath-of-god.html","title":{"rendered":"Feathers On The Breath of God"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?<\/em>
\nAnd what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its <\/em>
\nrestless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?”-Kahlil Gibran, \u00a0On Death<\/em><\/p>\n

As I am writing this, a friend is by her father’s beside, taking a journey with him\u00a0 that will only allow her to\u00a0go so far. At some point, he will take a step away from her and she will remain here. Perhaps\u00a0her mother will hold out her hand and invite him to join her, \u00a0since she made her transtion 10 years ago Christmas Eve.\u00a0 Another friend said goodbye to her mother a few weeks ago. A year ago, on the day after Thanksgiving, my mother continued the dance with my father that was interrupted 2 1\/2 years earlier and\u00a0on December 21st, \u00a0I said Kaddish for my husband on the 13th anniversary of his death. Each of these souls are feathers on the breath of God, wafting through\u00a0life on a different level.<\/p>\n

So many of us avoid the subject of death, but for me, it is as intimate as corporeal existence; nothing morbid or frightening about it. I have worked as a nursing home social worker and home care social worker and witnessed the death of residents and patients. I\u00a0have been a bereavement counselor and teach classes\u00a0on the subject. \u00a0As an interfaith minister, I have officiated at funerals (including those\u00a0of\u00a0both my parents and an uncle) \u00a0I have been at the bedsides of\u00a0 my father in 2008 and my husband in 1998. I was not present when my mother took her last breath, since she had orchestrated it that way. It feels very much like being a midwife on the other end of the life spectrum, very much an honor.<\/p>\n

I remember the experience of being in hospital rooms with my parents\u00a0and Michael, footsteps echoing down corridors, sleep eluding me and being eagerly grasped when it would blanket me in fleeting comfort. ‘Normal’ \u00a0felt like it was out of my reach for the time being. I wondered what it be like to experience\u00a0‘normal’ \u00a0again. And of course, I live it now. As I think about my friend who is witnessing her father’s transition now, I feel an odd sense of gratitude that I have survived the experience and that are no more parents to bury and no phone call to await, summoning me to their bedsides.\u00a0 Even as tears of sadness flow\u00a0and a longing for one more hug, one more laugh with them, one more smile, one more loving word, is with me, \u00a0I have every certainty that they are experiencing a joy beyond anything I might imagine at the moment. Knowing that, heals my heart and I offer that same sense of comfort to my friends who are where I was a year ago.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/RMTKb-pgxGI<\/a>\u00a0 Keep Me In Your Heart For Awhile\u00a0 by Warren Zevon<\/p>\n

http:\/\/youtu.be\/qkG7XE-uBSk<\/a>\u00a0 There’s An Angel Watching You\u00a0\u00a0 by Barry Goldstein<\/p>\n

Two of my favorite books on the subject<\/p>\n

Glad No Matter What by SARK\u00a0 www.planetsark.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Loving Grief by Paul Bennett\u00a0 www.lovinggrief.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  “For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?”-Kahlil Gibran, \u00a0On Death As I am writing this, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":233,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,41,1246,94,50,3,22,4,54,30],"tags":[1254,1127,1252,1125,1253,913],"class_list":["post-2074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-attracting-what-you-desire","category-death","category-faith","category-family","category-god","category-gratitude","category-healing","category-inspiration","category-interfaith","category-love","tag-christmas-eve","tag-kaddish","tag-kahlil-gibran","tag-keep-me-in-your-heart-for-awhile","tag-on-death","tag-warren-zevon"],"yoast_head":"\nFeathers On The Breath of God - The Bliss Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/blissblog\/2011\/12\/feathers-on-the-breath-of-god.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feathers On The Breath of God - The Bliss Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  “For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun? 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She has also contributed to several anthologies and personal growth books. Edie has interviewed such notables as Ram Dass, Wayne Dyer, Debbie Ford, don Miguel Ruiz, don Miguel Ruiz, Jr. Marianne Williamson, Grover Washington, Jr. Noah Levine, Shirley MacLaine, Dennis Weaver, Ben and Jerry and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. She calls herself an Opti-mystic who sees the world through the eyes of possibility. 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