Good Moods, Bad Moods

Yesterday would have been my mom's 82nd birthday. She passed away suddenly last year on May 1st. As I was looking at Facebook today I saw that several people had posted on her timeline to wish her a happy birthday. I had the feeling that they didn't know she was gone. That of course got me thinking!

Last night I was reading my Inner Compass book (written my Margaret Silf). The chapter had to do with sorting out our "moods." One set of moods goes along with the general human condition: good moods and bad moods. The other set of "moods' is really your spiritual barometer and stems from whether or not you are moving closer to or away from God. The premise is that through careful prayer and reflection a person can see how to steer their course in the right direction, no matter the obstacles in front of them. Ever forward right? 

How does this relate to my mom dying and those birthday wishes on Facebook? In her book, Silf suggests a nightly examination; a kind of reflective prayer. One of the ideas is to think about not only how God might have been present in your life that day but also how you may have brought the presence of God into someone else's life as well. This can be done in one way by sharing some part of yourself with another person. I considered that the people wishing my mom a happy birthday were doing just that. They were trying to share themselves with my mom on her special day; to be closer to her (and in my mind and in my belief system thereby bringing themselves closer to God.) I also thought that it was a shame that those well wishers seemed not to know that she was gone. (It should be noted that there was no service for my mom when she died. She and my dad wished for that.)  There is obviously a missed opportunity here. How often do you try and share yourself with someone else? To share the true and honest and best parts of yourself? It really made me think that this sharing should be as often as possible and in whatever way was necessary. An active and concerted effort. 

As for the birthday wishes on Facebook I can only say that if there is someone you want to talk with why not get up and do it right now if you can?
Libby