Page 313. Thoughts and a Prayer.

By Laurie Beth Jones.

I learned yesterday that everyone loses twenty-one grams when they die. Whether the body is young or old, heavy or thin, something ineffable leaves it that weighs only as much as a hummingbird.

Perhaps this is what the human soul weighs,or the breath that circulates through our lungs day in, day out - from our first great gulp of air to our last soft sigh.

This is the part of you that Jesus seeks - not the weight of your accomplishments or the heft of your bank account - not even (dare I say it?) the list of your good deeds.

Jesus is looking for the essence of you - the twenty-one grams granted at birth - the twenty-one grams that may ascend into heaven when you die.

Turn you breath to him now - whisper a first "yes", and then again and again a "yes" - and your life will turn imperceptibly, boldly, hugely toward the ultimate, greatest, happiest "You." Amen and amen.