Carl Sandburg:
Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.

Albert Einstein:
Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Emily Dickinson:
That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.

Erik H. Erikson:
Hope is both the earliest and the most indispensable virtue inherent in the state of being alive. If life is to be sustained hope must remain, even where confidence is wounded, trust impaired.

George Eliot:
What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

Henry Van Dyke:
Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love, to work, to play, and to look up at the stars.

Isaac Asimov:
If my doctor told me I had only six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster.

Lord Byron:
The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain.

Margaret Fuller:
Men for the sake of getting a living forget to live.

Mark Twain:
There was never yet an uninteresting life. Such a thing is an impossibility. Inside of the dullest exterior there is a drama, a comedy and a tragedy.

Mohandas K. Gandhi:
Where there is love there is life.

Robert Byrne:
The purpose of life is a life of purpose.

Robert Frost:
In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

Roy H. Williams:
Lives, like money, are spent. What are you buying with yours?

Thich Nhat Hanh:
Life can be found only in the present moment. The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.

That day at work, Dex commented, "Jenn, from knowing u these four weeks, i think you're very strong. Physically, emotionally and mentally." It threw me off course, i hadn't realised i had become this way. In my mind, i'd always perceived myself as weak. So much weaker than so many people i know. Perhaps because i've gone through the darkest times, and learnt that without God, i am nothing. Learnt that in my weakness His Strength is with me.

The joy of the Lord is my Strength.

These four weeks might not have been a long time, but spending so much time together everyday, sharing so much of my past, even the skeletons of my closet, has created a bond between the five of us that is indeed amazing. From revealing each part of my past, and exploring each part of my present, to contemplating each part of my future, i have learnt so much about myself, and about life itself.

Dad told me today that life is short, and 1/4 of my life is already spent. It is true, i know life is short. Working in the hospital reminds me of this fact daily. Life and death are born each day. At the end of the day, it is the soul that survives, that reveals the core of our being. Monica said that in times of grave danger, it is then, that we reveal our true selves. It is true. All pretenses are cast aside, patronizes ignored. It never fails to inspire me, to touch my heart when i see a terminally ill patient fight on with such strength from within, the strength of the soul overtaking the weakness of the body.

Can Life then be simple, like the picture above? Yes. I have learnt, through the 20.5 years that i have lived, that Life can be simple. Life is only complicated when we have yet to grasp what Life is about, what is important in this Life. Life is complicated when you live only for yourself, when you choose to entertain irrelevant distractions. I have found God. And through Him, i have found my purpose in Life. Saved 4 times over, or more, my life is now not my own, but His alone.

What is Life all about? In sum, i would say it is about Love, Contentment, Pain, Choices and Learning. So many of us forget to live in this busy busy world, choosing simply to exist. May we remember to live, to enjoy this gift from above. May we choose to live a meaningful life, not just to fulfill the basic requirements and move on, but to go out there and do extraordinary things. From little acts of kindness to great acts of transformation, we can make a difference.