June 6, 2010 - Our Most Elusive Possession

Great column a couple days ago, from New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. Instead of gallivanting around Africa or someplace crusading against injustice, as he often is, his June 4th column is very personal.

That’s because he’s had a cancer scare: diagnosis of a kidney tumor 90% likely to be malignant, then surgery – and then, against the odds, a biopsy revealing he’s in the lucky 10%. The tumor was benign.

Still – and understandably – Nicholas had a scare, that led him (as cancer has led so many of us) to examine his life a little more closely. Here’s the result:

“This is trite but also so, so true: A brush with mortality turns out to be the best way to appreciate how blue the sky is, how sensuous grass feels underfoot, how melodious kids' voices are. Even teenagers' voices. A friend and colleague, David E. Sanger, who conquered cancer a decade ago, says, "No matter how bad a day you're having, you say to yourself: `I've had worse....’

I don't mean to wax lyrical about the joys of tumors. But maybe the most elusive possession is contentment with what we have. There's no better way to attain that than a glimpse of our mortality.”

Preach it, brother!

A few verses from the First Letter to Timothy come to mind:

"Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these."

- 1 Timothy 6:6-8