One of my favorite saints of the church made an announcement during bible study this morning.

Today he is ninety years old.  He was shining with the wonder of it all.  How was it, he wondered, that he could be so blessed by ninety years of living?

He has raised babies, served his country, his community, and his church. He has been married for decades to a woman with whom he has made meaning, and he has arrived at a momentous and marvelous benchmark.  He is ninety.

Following bible study I called to check on a beloved friend whose body is being claimed by cancer.  He has fought so long and so hard to live.  He is 65, and not near done wringing juice and justice from his world.

And yet, he will never see ninety years of living in this lush world.

Every day we are given is gift.  Painful sometimes, to be sure, and seemingly meaningless and vexatious and so many woundings come our way but oh, to live to be ninety, with a face shining with gratitude.

May God bless our comings in, and our goings out, and our living of the gift that is life.