Old Faithful

Risk a wonderful spice of life

In his blog entitled “Old Faithful” David Sedaris described his marital life. Once he was in a relationship with someone, but after six years of courtship, they broke up. After losing his first boyfriend, he became uncertain if he would ever find a suitable partner again. His first relationship had been awkward when he found out that they were not a good match. He wanted somebody that would be faithful and caring. Taking another decision about his life partner was a difficult one for him. He eventually found a suitable match. Somebody Sedaris felt that they did have a lot in common, but he was not sure if their relationship would last. Of course it did last. They were both an old couple at the time he was recounting this story, taking care of each other and sharing in each other’s pain.

There are moments in our lives when we wonder if we would make a reasonable decision, a decision that would last. These are periods when we doubt if we had made the right decision or not. But we could never be sure what the outcome would be until we were able to take the risk and make up our minds to start somewhere. There are many questions that will not be answered in our life time. Such as how long one would live? Who would be one’s best and faithful friend? These could be called mysteries, but there will always be a need for one to take risks.

Before I joined religious life, I had a deep reflection on the life I was entering into. I made my decision despite the fact that I had no idea what life would hold for me. But I felt I had made the right decision and I was at peace. For people around me, it was a crazy decision that I had made. They kept asking me, “Are you going to spend the rest of your life serving others?” They were thinking about what I would have gained in the society and not what I could contribute to the society. For me, life is more than daily routine: live, reproduce and die! I have a passion for contributing positively to life, to help make our world a better place to live. I joined the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur because they have a similar vision with me. Their passion for education, especially the poor children and women who are the most marginalized in our society, motivated me. These are vowed women who have devoted their lives to prayer and service of others.

Just like Sedaris sharing his joys and pains with Hugh his partner, so also we share joyful and disappointing moments as we live together in a community making known to the people of our time that God is good.