26 April 2026 #livingthedream

There’s a maintenance man at the Assisted Living complex where my Mom lives, and he and I often run into each other in the hallways. He’s very tall and slender with crazy-wavy-big-hair, and always has a smile on his face for the residents and guests. When we greet each other in passing, our exchange is always the same:
“How’s it goin’ Laura?”
“I’m livin’ the dream, Jonathon, livin’ the dream.”

And we both smile. Because we both know that this is not the life we dreamt of.

Both our situations include hard work and sacrifice, good days and bad days. It’s constant emergencies and the putting-out-of-fires. It’s being insulted for some slight delay in service and lauded for showing up, all in the same sentence. And many times, it truly might be a life and death situation. Each day is its own unique journey, with sudden twists and turns and e-mails/texts that change a planned course of action. It like we’re part of a posse ascending the Mount of Death, which feels closer than we’d like it to be in that sacred space.

And yet we’re joyful in our exchange. Because we both know this is exactly where we are supposed to be.

“I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly,” says Jesus in the last line of the Gospel today. And an abundant life is one filled with joy and sorrow and everything in between. A life of toil and drudgery (slavery) is not worth living; too much despair, not enough hope. But ask any big lottery winner (freedom) and they will tell you that a life of excess-and-ease is not worth living either; too much temptation to vice and pleasure, not enough restraint. We must suffer in some measure to experience joy.

Or better yet, suffer joyfully. Because that is where we receive abundant grace.

In our second reading today, Peter – who suffered martyrdom at the hand of the despot Nero - says as much: “If you are patient when you suffer for doing what is good, this is a grace before God. For this you have been called.” It is this type of calling that Jesus says is the heart of an abundant life.

Because here’s the thing…

Jesus had an abundant life, wouldn’t you say? He grew up in a faith-full family, learned a trade from his foster-father, laughed and danced at a wedding in Cana, had twelve best friends who lived with him in community, knew he was beloved by his Father, walked around Israel enjoying the sights and sounds, and saw people’s lives radically change. What more joy could one have than that? Aaaaand he was the subject of hateful gossip, had stones thrown at him as part of a death threat, abandoned by his friends when he needed them most, condemned by the religious authorities he once admired, and was humiliated and unfairly punished at the crucifixion by the Romans and Jews alike.

And that’s the epitome of an abundant life? Sacrifice, setbacks, hard work, joy, friendship, and laughter all blended together until you can’t tell them apart? Why, yes. Yes, it is. #livingthedream