I love golf. Of course I love every sport I have ever participated in. Well, okay, ice skating is the exception. Cold, hard surface to fall down on? Uh, no. So as an athlete I know about comebacks. Lately, Tiger Woods has been in the news again. He is 40, had three back surgeries in 19 months, and everyone knows he is done. Well, no that just isn’t a sure thing. He may be the greatest golfer in history. And, agreeably, not the nicest person. His personal behavior aside, he is hitting a golf ball again, so who knows. What I do know is that he won’t come back the way he was and if he does come back, he will have to be smarter and wiser than before.
Sports are not the only venue for come backs. Nearly every aspect of life has stories of comebacks. Business, politics, economics, and science. Each area has produced some great comebacks, from Harry Truman getting elected to the current economic recovery, life is just that way. My mother-in-law staged a great one just this past year: from stage 4 lymphoma to a clear PET scan a couple of weeks ago. That is a long way back.
So, I was contemplating comebacks in the spiritual realm. The Bible is full of them, David, Jonah, Job, Ruth, and so many more. And then in the New Testament we find the ultimate “comeback” in the resurrection story. Now, you and I aren’t Jesus, or David or Job. We are just ordinary people trying to get through another day. We are not special or blessed or any of a dozen things we think those named above were or are we?
Actually, that Jesus fellow said we are all co-heirs with him. That we are his brothers and sisters. If that is the case, then all of the stories above, including Jesus’ story, are our stories! Imagine that, I am special, I am the “comeback kid” and so are you. Okay, I get it, we each have a different distance to come back but still we can, we do. Every…….single……..day.
At the Abbey, in the last “hour” that the monks worship, called Compline, the words reflect a comeback when they say “grant us a peaceful death”, meaning going to bed at night. Now that is an interesting way to live: each day is a birth, death and resurrection. How would we live, each day, if we celebrated our personal Easter morning each day with our coffee? And how free would we be if we lived each day knowing that in spite of all that happens, we will stage the perfect comeback each morning.
On a personal note, I have been there, the resurrection in the morning. A number of years ago, I felt really bad. I actually looked like death warmed over. I actually was death warmed over. My blood sugar skyrocketed to 1,000, ten times the normal. Many or most go into a coma at 500. I was walking around, feeling awful, but doing my job. I spent a night in the hospital, woke the next morning and that was a resurrection. So, in a deeply personal way, I understand the morning resurrection. I am the comeback kid par excellence.
The comebacks are not of my or your own doing. No, we get to come back each day because of Grace……..unmerited favor from God. We don’t deserve it, we can’t earn it, the Eternal simply gives it, to all. So, let’s celebrate each day as a resurrection that we don’t deserve and live that whole day as resurrected people. Oh, wait, all people resurrected, isn’t that what Heaven is supposed to be? Hmm, I think I just defined Heaven on earth, so how about we live like we are in heaven and treat ever person we meet as a fellow angel, in heaven?
TMM