AUTOBIOGRAPHY

All of us are writing our own book,

          our own story,

          our autobiography ,

          chapter after chapter.

And the story contains every page

          of our lives,

          our parents,

          our family,

          and all the people and places

          we’ve touched so far.

And the first and most obvious thing

          we all would like to do

          is to rip out certain passages

          of our book,

          stories that sound so stupid,

          stories about broken relationships

          and sex,

          but we know

          we can’t tear out

          anything that is part

          of the pages of our life.

And then there are those sections

          we keep re-reading

          getting angrier each time,

          sections where we we’ve been hurt

          or rejected by parents or lovers

          or accidents that scarred us,

          sections that blur possibilities

          for our tomorrow’s,

          because we can’t forgive

          our yesterdays.

And every once in awhile

          we have to sit back from our desks,

          and ask ourselves

          the significant questions,

          the meaning questions:

What’s the plot?

          Am I doing  all this for myself

          or for others?

          Am I growing older

          but not growing up ?

          Does the God of Love,

          the Lord Jesus,

          appear in the pages of my life?

          Is my story just happening

          or am I making it happen?

          Whom am I writing this book for?

©   Andrew Costello, Listenings, page 76-77

          is here with us,

          at least one other person