OldSoul.blog

It appears I’ve grown old in the twinkling of an eye! Suddenly I’m remembering and singing (silently!) those trite choruses we used to sing in the pre-Sunday-evening-church ‘song service’ many years ago.

Just today, walking back from lunch on the Carrum beach boardwalk (if you’re in the southern bayside area of Melbourne grab a Breakie Wrap from the Kitchen Container!), I found myself singing,

Life is wonderful, yes it’s wonderful,

Life is wonderful now for me!

I let Jesus in, he changed everything,

Life is wonderful now!

Since his blessings came into my heart,

Joy unspeakable fills every part, 

And I want to live for my Lord,

Life is wonderful now!

And the most wondrous thing is that I feel it is true: life is wonderful! The delight in creation as I wander beside the sea and along the river, the pleasure of casual conversations and g’day greetings with other walkers, the warmth of the sun, the ding on my phone that announces a message connecting me to my amazing family, and the simple awareness that I am alive in this complex, unpredictable, mysterious and wonderful world – yes, life is wonderful!

That’s not to deny the challenges of life, personal and global, evident and not-so-evident. I know the world is in a bit of a mess – global politics in turmoil as Donald Trump upends conventional rubrics, economic uncertainty as the markets hold their breath, climate crisis impacting so much of the earth’s ecosystem, energy debates around renewables and diminishing fossil fuel reserves, and the seemingly ever-present wars and conflicts in which human lives matter less than political or religious ideology. That’s not wonderful.

Then there’s the personal challenges: managing the household budget on a fixed income amidst the upward cost-of-living spiral, addressing health and wellbeing issues (I’m into my third round of treatment for prostate cancer in a five-year period), and other curve balls that life throws our way.

I’m neither naïve nor ignorant – none of those things is wonderful! It would be easy to fall into a ‘woe-is-me’ mindset of self-pity or anxiety over the future. And, believe me, I have glimpsed that precipice once or twice, but something deep inside calls over the turmoil … … life is wonderful … … inviting my awareness of the evidences:

• my grandson turns four and shines with delight and hope;
• my family gathers to celebrate and it is simply ‘good’ – wonderful people aged from 2 years to 44 years all making a positive contribution to the world;
• my stepmother is about to turn 90, and I am reminded of how, even though my mother’s death 50 years ago felt like the end of the world, my father’s re-marriage a couple of years later opened up a wonderful new dimension of life and relationships;
• I have an amazing circle of friends – some of whom I see regularly and others who I might only connect with on Facebook – but all of whom enrich and enlarge my life;
• I marvel at the medical science behind the drug trial that I am part of and that seems, even in the early stages, to be effective in its application;
• I am blessed with a life-partner who, after 45 years and despite me being me, still loves me, cares for me, and enjoys doing life with me;
• and, of course, every moment of every day I am left in no doubt that my dog loves me too!

How could life be anything but wonderful?!

I no longer understand faith, spirituality, God or Jesus in the same way I did when I was singing that chorus as a teenager, but I do still affirm faith, I do still revel in the teachings and values of Jesus, and I do still feel and believe in a deep spiritual connection with that ‘something’ which is beyond me – call it God, or the ‘ground of all being’, or the Creator Spirit, or ‘sacred other’ or whatever – and I know that out of this deep well of knowing (or perhaps out of the cloud of unknowing as one spiritual sage has named it) comes an assurance/hope/confidence upon which I can declare, ‘Life is wonderful!’  

And there’s more: it is within the space where life becomes wonderful that I find my motivation to act in compassion and care and justice for the world and for its people, all of whom are just as wonderful as life itself! Then, in a wondrous feedback loop, I circle back to the boardwalk where the people I meet and the connection I make with creation serve to shore up my deep conviction that, when all is said and done, life is wonderful!

Hoping it might be the same for you,

David Brooker (May 2025)