Sunday, May 6, 2012

Til alle enker

Da min far døde for mange år siden, fik jeg dette smukke digt fra en veninde i USA.
Da min mand døde for tre år siden, læste jeg det igen.
Jeg har intet ønske om at følge hurtigt efter.... livet er smukt.
Men jeg holder af digtet, og vil gerne dele det.
Der er mange ting, man kan fortryde, når man pludselig mister sin ægtefælle. Men som en klog kone sagde til mig: 'Hvis du skulle have gjort noget anderledes, så skulle du have været en anden person. Det var du jo ikke. Du er den, du er. Og det er ok.'

You and I
If we could know
which of us, darling, would be the first to go,
who would be first to breast the swelling tide
and step alone upon the other side...
if we could know!

If it were you,
should I walk softly, keeping death in view?
Should I my love to you more oft express?
Or should I grieve you, darling, any less
if it were you?

If it were I, should I improve the moments slipping by?
Should I more closely follow God's great plan?
Be filled with sweeter charity to man -
if it were I?
If we could know?

If we could know---
We cannot, darling, and 'tis better so.
I should forget, just as I do today
and walk along the same old stumbling way
if I could know.

I would not know
which of us, darling, will be first to go.
I only wish the space may not be long
between the parting and the greeting song:
But when or how or where we're called to go -
I would not know.
Julie H May

Monday, March 19, 2012

Changing lives


I often think about this phrase: 'It changed my life.' 
But how can we even talk about changing a life, since (I believe) we do not know in advance how our life is going to be?
I have used this phrase myself many times, but the more I think about it, the more I feel that it is not the right way for me to talk about the work, we're doing.
Maybe this is just a matter of words, but I am considering saying different things about changes. 
For example: 'This story made me change my mind', or 'This story changed the way I think about myself, gave me an insight, made me think differently about a certain situation in my history' etc. etc.

What do you think about this?
What do say about the effect of your work?
How do you express when you experience changes in your mind after having heard a great story?