Purpose and Katrina

It is hard to believe that it is the second anniversary of the Katrina disaster. I have a difficult time with that because it is also the sixth anniversary of my beloved's death. So time kinds of meld into itself. In my own reflections on disaster, tragedy and adversity, I have learned that in all there is purpose. Now, you may ask what purpose is death, destruction and devastation?

Well, I believe it is to bring the rest of us up a little higher; calling us to a different place. We can become so immersed in our own little worlds with our own problems and complexities that we sometimes lose sight of the bigger picture. We are not on this earth mainly for our own amusement. We are not here merely to satisfy our own insatiable appetites; but to learn and teach valuable lessons.

After going through my own grief journey, I realized that all that I went through was not just for its own sake. I now had an incredible responsibility placed at my feet. I was now bestowed with a one of a kind task that only from my experience could be accomplished. And what was this great task? To empathetically journey with another in love.

I was no longer free from ignorance. No, I now had knowledge, experience and the wisdom needed to move from my own world into someone else's world -- someone also going through pain and adversity. It is a very daunting task, but one that is absolutely necessary if your own journey is to make any sense. Granted, one can never make sense of loss of innocent life, yet the way I can wrap my brain around it is to believe in a higher purpose. I know that the Divine Spirit is always looking for ways to get us to "get it" though sometimes we miss it, and miss it by a mile.

I now get it. I can make peace with adversity. Not that it's a friend, but it is a familiar bystander. One that I can now recognize. And I am the stronger for knowing him.

My prayers go out to all the Katrina victims and survivors. My heart is with you.

In peace and purpose,

Coach Carolyn