"Live and Love it up!"

I was watching a documentary-type video in class last week, and a statement that a 10 year old girl made really caught my attention. Some people may have thought the class was a bit 'foofy' [def'n: absurdity beyond superficiality, when content is meant to have meaning but results in none], and we have seen bits and pieces of the video before, but I think this little girl, Michaela, got it. Like she understood her meaning of life. She was only 10, and probably younger at the time she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her mother gave her a choice between choosing to let the tumor grow bigger and bigger in her head, or being poked and stabbed by many needles so that it would shrink. She didn't comprehend what really was going on, and described her feeling of being 'stuck in a donut' where she didn't exactly feel entirely trapped, but was in that hole in the middle where she wasn't sure quite which direction to turn. After 2 cycles of chemotherapy, she was tired, she just wanted it to end so she could 'go to heaven'. In the interview, she shared with us her motto in life - "Live and love it up". She explained it to the audience as her understanding of how she knew she couldn't live forever, but that love will last forever, love meaning the relationships she had, an entity that, for her, was eternal.

Michaela got it.
Despite her youth and rare experiences, she understood what her life was all about.
Makes me wonder why it's so difficult with a more mature brain and presumably more experience me to "get it". Why even with all the love around I feel discontent, misunderstood, lost for expression, puzzled, discombobulated...

I have been attempting to practice lectio divina (sp?), to challenge myself in listening to God's voice. This week my lesson came from Romans 1, where I was drawn to the message "to encourage one another in each other's faith". It's a battle to live and love it up, isn't it? To live and love God, benevolence, selflessness, timelessness - it's a battle to be close to God, to even desire to stay close by. It's a battle we can't fight alone, and we must stand with one another, encouraging each other in our faith; to pray earnestly for one another; to love one another.

Isn't it?