I am giving gratitude today for the life of Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist who made his transition yesterday, March 13. I am not a physicist or scientist, nor do I claim to know anything really about what Stephen Hawking mastered and continued to try to understand from a deeper and deeper place. He most definitely gave himself to the world, not as a martyr, but as someone who was fulfilling his own purpose and in doing so gave us all the gift of that purpose. Although he was diagnosed with a terminal and debilitating disease, he still found within him what I call that Divine urge to express, and did so at a higher level than most of humanity.

As quotes from him were posted in various articles, this was one of the ones that struck me the deepest: “Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do, and succeed at. It matters that you don’t just give up.” 

Life couldn’t have been more difficult than it was for Stephen Hawking and yet he didn’t give up. In fact, he went beyond mere not giving up to excelling. I am so grateful for the inspiration I receive from this. “Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.”

And today, hundreds of thousands of high school students across America are looking up at the stars, as they march for gun control and change, instead of succumbing to sorrow and helplessness. I am so impressed with these children who are taking up where, we the adults have failed them. Instead of sitting around complaining about our lack of action, they’ve stood up and looked up in action.

So, my question for myself and for all of us is are we looking up at the stars or down at our feet? Are we giving up in any area of our life or taking what we do have and building on that? Do we succumb to victim mentality or as Stephen Hawking said, realize that “there is always something we can do.”

I invite us all to find what is ours to do today. Let us not waste another moment of precious life feeling sorry for our lot or complaining about what we don’t have, blah, blah, blah. What do we want? How do we want to live? WHAT CAN WE GIVE? Finding out what is ours to give and giving it is what it means to fulfill our purpose.

This is not a random Universe nor a Universe of destiny. We make our destiny in every moment through our choices. Life changes according to our choices. What will you choose today? As our country does the same, let’s take those 17 minutes of silence for the slain students of Parkland and use it to dig deep and look up to the stars.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita