A beautiful blog post written by my friend, Ed Lamoureaux. Well worth a few minutes of your time. Life is precious. Plan for tomorrow but live for today and love without boundaries. Life. Loss. Love. Life. For most it is a series of days, some good, some great, some neither. Either way, we all lay our head on the pillow at night and imagine — or pray — that tomorrow will be better…that we’ll get another chance to do it just a bit better than today. We’ll finally get to our to-do list or call that old friend we’ve been meaning to reconnect with or spend the time with family that we’ve been promising ourselves we’d do. And at the end of the next day, we again lay our heads on our pillows and know tomorrow is yet another chance to do what we’ve once again neglected to do today… Live. But what if today was your last chance to do all you’ve put off and planned for but never acted on? What if there were no tomorrows? Would you be satisfied with the life you’ve lived? Or would you regret those things left undone, the thoughts left unsaid, the expressions of love still in your heart but no longer able to be passed along? Mortality. We never think today may be our final moments of life. We’re conditioned to believe we’re necessary — to plan ahead for months, years and decades in the future. We know we’re not immortal but we are convinced we have years and years ahead of us and that belief is sustained by keeping busy, making plans and filling our daily lives with scheduled activities. Loss. But what if your death were only weeks, days or hours from this moment? Would you change how you live tomorrow or the limited time you have remaining? Would you carry regrets from this life to wherever the next life takes you? Reality. In the past two weeks, my wife lost her cousin to pancreatic cancer that was diagnosed over July 4th weekend. She leaves behind a grieving family of three young children — two sons and a daughter, a loving and devoted husband, numerous tearful relatives, her heartbroken mother, father and brother and a community where she was much beloved. That death was followed the next week by the death of my wife’s coworker’s father. A gregarious man who was, in many ways, larger than life and healthy as an ox. He was retired and living an active life for someone in his late 70′s. He worked as a school crossing guard to stay busy and because he loved being around people of all ages…spreading joy with his jovial spirit and caring personality. All was normal in his life until one morning a seemingly harmless fall caused him to hit his head on his nightstand as he was preparing to dress and head off to his crossing guard post near the local elementary school. He drove all the way to his usual spot but never made it out of his car as the fall caused a brain hemorrhage that put him in ICU and led to further complications resulting in death just a few days later. And today I received the tragic news that a dear friend’s mother was taken from this earth as the result of a tragic and sudden automobile accident. One minute she was living a perfectly normal healthy life, the next moment she was with God. No warning, no health problems, and no chance to say goodbye to her loved ones or for them to bid her farewell. So tragic. So unfairly final. The kind of news no one wants to receive. Her family is understandably devastated. Friends, relatives and the several communities in which she was actively involved and much loved, all in shock. I grapple with the issue of death and dying regularly…wondering what God has in store for me and why some of the kindest souls I know suffered the fates they did. I ask God why they were taken from us and why their lives ended as they did…trying to fit the pieces together like they’re supposed form a neat and understandable picture. And in the end, realizing that I will never solve the mysteries and that I simply must trust that His plan, while unknown to me — unknown to all of us — has a purpose. I constantly remind myself that life is fleeting, that we rarely get to choose our final day or the circumstances of our death. Yet still I struggle to grasp the finality of it all. My mother’s courageous battle with cancer last year hammered home the realization that out best course in life is to approach every day as if it were our last. I know it sounds morbid and a bit cliche but the reality is we must all focus on what’s most important in life and make sure we live with purpose whatever time we’re given in this lifetime, spending it with the ones we love…never missing the opportunity to say, “I love you” to friends and especially family. Those three words are what we leave our loved ones with. Those three words should never grow old. And those three words should always be accompanied by a hug and kiss while we’re living. While we still have time. Do it — often. Never miss an opportunity to say, “I love you” as you never know when that opportunity will disappear. Love. Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If it causes just a few extra “I love you”s to be said or a few extra hugs and kisses to be shared, it was worth every minute it took me to write it. God bless.
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:19:48 +0000
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