Chris you are my soul friend and my teacher, you continue to ask the hard questions and ask us to dig a little deeper. What is a good death? When the struggle of being human and the dying time is is here, what does death ask of us? Does it ask us to grow soft eyes and an immeasurably cunning soul to know the hues of madness that color our thousand ways? Is it the obligation to life we gathered up in living? Your willingness to share your life story to ask the hard questions with grace consciously on purpose ennobles us with the courage to die wisely to understand what a good death looks like. You are continuing to teach us, we are here, we see you and love you dearly.
Sitting with images of "soft eyes and an immeasurably cunning soul." Yes. Something to cut through all the madness that we have somehow simply accepted as True.
Much love to you Chris ❤️ you need not worry. You have Angels, I just know it. I’m a better person for having met you through your writing. Just keep the wonder of life going strong even in the face of death. Your dog is there to help you with that. It may sound trite, but things come to us in our moments of need.
Chris, thank you for sharing your heart through this time. I believe God is speaking to and through you, and your candor with him in your writing and with others in person is the life-changing type of doing it well. It's speaking to me and also to many others. We can't walk in your shoes right now, but we all will at some point. But we can listen to your heart and grow into the love that you are describing. While we don't know each other well, I am thankful for you.
I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see your face in this post and how lovely your sweet new puppy is ☺ they are such good reminders of what is important in this life and they know how to guide you to what matters most.
This post made me think of something that I head the other day. I will randomly ask my alexa to play me a lecture or play me a song and just use that as my mindful minutes for the day. The other day Alexa populated a talk/song given by Ram Das about a talking frog
While this may not directly relate to what you’re going through pieces of this stuck me in all that I am currently going through and newfound diagnosis myself. Long story short, at 36 I am essentially postmenopausal and my body is no longer producing estrogen. When the female body no longer produces estrogen this can greatly impact the health of the brain, organs, and bones and it seems this has been going on long enough for me that it has indeed began to affect the density of my bones and i need to make some changes in my medication and routines in order to preserve and prevent.
I do hope you will give the link up there a listen as its just funny, light hearted in that discovering our own talking frogs in this life may just be the key to living well.
I had to do a reread on this one, I’ll confess. I got wrapped up in the notion of dying a good death and how the idea was challenging for you. I have never heard of this and I didn’t like it. Then half way through I had to listen to some John Prine. I hope Heaven is just like John imagined in When I Get to Heaven. Then I had to listen to Hello in There.
Then I came back and read the article on living a good death. And I lost the John Prine buzz. Then I finished up and felt like I missed something important. Can you tell I don’t multitask well?
So I went back to the top and reread the title “Living Well” and it all clicked. You are blessed to feel God’s love for you so strongly and I can tell how true that is. This is inspiring to me and I hope to others following you.
Continue to live well my friend, and love like Jesus loves.
Thank you for this, Scott. I always look forward to your comments. Always.
"Continue to live well my friend, and love like Jesus loves." I'm increasingly convinced, especially when i soften my eyes or pay attention to my peripheral vision, that these are two ways of saying exactly the same thing.
Chris you are my soul friend and my teacher, you continue to ask the hard questions and ask us to dig a little deeper. What is a good death? When the struggle of being human and the dying time is is here, what does death ask of us? Does it ask us to grow soft eyes and an immeasurably cunning soul to know the hues of madness that color our thousand ways? Is it the obligation to life we gathered up in living? Your willingness to share your life story to ask the hard questions with grace consciously on purpose ennobles us with the courage to die wisely to understand what a good death looks like. You are continuing to teach us, we are here, we see you and love you dearly.
My soul friend - How lovely to hear your voice.
Sitting with images of "soft eyes and an immeasurably cunning soul." Yes. Something to cut through all the madness that we have somehow simply accepted as True.
So grateful that you reached out.
Much love to you Chris ❤️ you need not worry. You have Angels, I just know it. I’m a better person for having met you through your writing. Just keep the wonder of life going strong even in the face of death. Your dog is there to help you with that. It may sound trite, but things come to us in our moments of need.
Not trite at all. I absolutely know it to be true. But sometimes it's easier for me to see something than it is to recognize it as what I need.
Thank you for the encouragement.
Time to wonder!
Oh, Chris. 💜
Chris, thank you for sharing your heart through this time. I believe God is speaking to and through you, and your candor with him in your writing and with others in person is the life-changing type of doing it well. It's speaking to me and also to many others. We can't walk in your shoes right now, but we all will at some point. But we can listen to your heart and grow into the love that you are describing. While we don't know each other well, I am thankful for you.
Dear sweet friend,
I can’t tell you how wonderful it was to see your face in this post and how lovely your sweet new puppy is ☺ they are such good reminders of what is important in this life and they know how to guide you to what matters most.
This post made me think of something that I head the other day. I will randomly ask my alexa to play me a lecture or play me a song and just use that as my mindful minutes for the day. The other day Alexa populated a talk/song given by Ram Das about a talking frog
https://open.spotify.com/track/7nI8O7yTT5eQcavevrnbr7
While this may not directly relate to what you’re going through pieces of this stuck me in all that I am currently going through and newfound diagnosis myself. Long story short, at 36 I am essentially postmenopausal and my body is no longer producing estrogen. When the female body no longer produces estrogen this can greatly impact the health of the brain, organs, and bones and it seems this has been going on long enough for me that it has indeed began to affect the density of my bones and i need to make some changes in my medication and routines in order to preserve and prevent.
I do hope you will give the link up there a listen as its just funny, light hearted in that discovering our own talking frogs in this life may just be the key to living well.
I do miss you friend!
-Nicole J.
Dear Friend,
I'm so sorry about the recent diagnosis. Please know, as I hope you already do, that you are in my heart, and I am holding you close.
And...rest assured I'll listen to the link. I can only imagine what my frog is going to tell me, and i cannot wait!
Best,
C
“The reward for walking with Jesus is WALKING WITH JESUS. Full stop”. Chris Rhoden, January 31, 2024.
We look forward to meeting Carly ❤️
I had to do a reread on this one, I’ll confess. I got wrapped up in the notion of dying a good death and how the idea was challenging for you. I have never heard of this and I didn’t like it. Then half way through I had to listen to some John Prine. I hope Heaven is just like John imagined in When I Get to Heaven. Then I had to listen to Hello in There.
Then I came back and read the article on living a good death. And I lost the John Prine buzz. Then I finished up and felt like I missed something important. Can you tell I don’t multitask well?
So I went back to the top and reread the title “Living Well” and it all clicked. You are blessed to feel God’s love for you so strongly and I can tell how true that is. This is inspiring to me and I hope to others following you.
Continue to live well my friend, and love like Jesus loves.
Thank you for this, Scott. I always look forward to your comments. Always.
"Continue to live well my friend, and love like Jesus loves." I'm increasingly convinced, especially when i soften my eyes or pay attention to my peripheral vision, that these are two ways of saying exactly the same thing.
C