Happiness Promise #9: Don't Worry, Be Happy

"Promise to be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit trouble to press on you."

I spent an unusual amount of time thinking about death the last couple of weeks or so. Not that it dominated my every waking thought mind you, just that I rarely think about it at all, and lately the idea had crossed my mind at least once a day.

I enjoy my summer days outdoors, and within the last year a mole had developed on my stomach. It started out about the size of a pencil tip, grew to the size of a pencil eraser over the course of several months, and had changed color and texture to the point that it was unlike anything else on my body.

So I got an appointment onto the calendar to meet with the dermatologist and have a look at it.

Hidden Bloggers know that my life has taken on its healthier path in recent years due to a renewed emphasis on the good side of things. It mostly takes the form of forming and holding onto a dream, but at times it comes from picturing the worst and being prepared for it.

What would it be like to know that I had incurable skin cancer? To learn that death was merely months and not decades away?

I like to think that I'd be disappointed for the impending pain, but grateful on the whole for forty years of good health and joyful memories. That's the blessing that God's permitted me. If I'm destined for another forty or more I'll gladly accept, but I won't be greedy.

Sooner or later we all leave someone behind, something left undone, our time comes. I'm not entitled to more than I'm allotted. And in the big scheme of things, forty years isn't much time lost in the eternal span of time.

There's just no point in the useless art of worrying.

I do pray that I go relatively peacefully and painlessly at the end. But fortunately, the end won't be due to this mole. The doctor said that it was nothing serious (though they will biopsy it to be sure). They removed it in less time than it took me to write this sentence.

Back to chasing dreams for a while!