Every Being in the Universe.

The past two days have been difficult ones. Monday morning Halis received a phone call that our friend, Josh, had taken his own life. We, like so many others, are struggling to make sense of it...

Tonight, I have been re-visiting some of my favorite spiritual readings in hope of finding something that will remind me that all is well and as it should be within the universe --- that every soul has an earth journey that only it can know --- that we are all connected --- and that everything is infinite. I have been reading Thich Nhat Hanh's Peace is Every Step as well as a prayer/poetry book called Earth and All the Stars. From the latter book, I found this poem from the Tao Te Ching:

Every Being in the Universe

Every being in the universe
Is an expression of God.
All life springs into existence,
unconscious,
perfect,
free,
taking on shapes,
letting circumstances
bring it to completion.

God gives birth to all things,
nourishes them,
maintains them,
cares for them,
comforts them,
protects them,
takes them back to herself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.

This is why the
love of God
is in the very nature of things,
in every being in the universe.

~ Lao Tzu (ca. 571 B.C.E.)

We will miss you Josh. We are so very sad that your life journey has ended but we are forever glad to have known you while you were here. May your children be constantly reminded of what a GREAT man you were... and that you loved them above all else. May you be at peace and at one with the Creator.

~ Jodi, Halis & Isaac