"don't waste time...don't waste time...don't waste time...."

We were able to celebrate the lives of two special people this past week, with the passing of Justin's dad, and also a long-time family friend of ours.  I've had lots of thoughts the past week about the importance of t-i-m-e.  Psalm 139 states that our days are numbered even before we are born.  We're given such a short time here on earth...what will we--what will I do--with that time God has given me?   There are just times when life forces us to stop...and consider life, and death.

Am I doing anything today that I'll regret?  Am I not doing something today that I'll wish I would've done?  Life is so short.  I remember my Grandma telling me after one of her 60 anniversaries, "A lifetime is never long enough."  Wow.  Even after living "it all"... it still seems short!

Never before have I realized how important relationships are.  I knew in my head they are important...but never felt it and lived it like I have this past week.  Relationships is where it is at.  Family, friends, church, and community relationships are the way we express and receive love: rejoicing when there's something to rejoice over, and weeping when there's something to grieve over.

Last night, after the visitation and in anticipation of the funeral today, I couldn't sleep.  Memories kept flooding my mind...keeping me awake till what seemed like forever.  The sound of her voice, her inflections, and special way she'd laugh and gesture kept replaying and ringing in my ears.

The reality of these people being gone seems surreal to me.  I know they are not "lost" or "gone"...but to my earthly mind, I can't comprehend what it means to be "absent from the body, and present with the Lord"  On this side of eternity, I suppose it can't be fully understood.  Helping our children understand death, in some ways, simplifies it for me.  Hearing my wise husband patiently explain these things to my children, helps me understand it in a small measure.  It's one of those things we really don't sit down and talk about until life forces us to.

Death is so final and so permanent in this life.  I realize eternity is long, but comparatively, life here, is just a "vapor"...as short as the life of a flower, as the Bible describes.

Life is just too short to:
be angry
be frustrated 
hold a grudge
not forgive,
be caught up with the "good" instead of the "best"
have priorities upside down
be too caught up in political issues, world events & national financial crises
be shaken constantly by "daily life"
live "stressed out"
speak harshly
be exasperated with my kids...

Let me be...

a little kinder
a lot more gracious
way less critical
offer more words of encouragement and affirmation
more thankful--especially to the people I love
more interested in others
a better listener
"roof off/walls down" type-of-gal
less me-focused & more others-focused
wiser with: my time, energy and my resources
more mindful of my example, my emotions and my attitudes

Let me take the time...
to kiss longer and more often
look eye-to-eye with my kids and tell them how special they are to me
to sit and play with them
to intentionally have "no agenda"
to stop and watch them dance, swing, laugh, and build
to be silly
to tickle
to greet my hubby when he comes through the door
to communicate love, appreciation, thankfulness and respect to him
to give him my full attention
to dream with him or them
to laugh
to "thank" God instead of always "asking"

Life has the tendency to "get in the way"  Death has stopped me in my tracks and caused me to consider my life, the time God has given me, eternity, and my relationships.  What if tomorrow was my last day here on earth?

I want to live life to the brim...and overflowing.  To savor all the special gifts God has blessed me with...to cherish the memories, love more, complain less, pray more, talk less.  Enjoy it--laugh--and sing. 




"What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?  I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord...
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."  Psalm 116:13 and 15

"Enjoy the life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your life..."  Ecc. 9:9

(I shall be reading the book of Ecclesiastes this week...for a perspective refresher...)