The other situation is a young lady, in her early 30's, who I had the chance to meet at church and have talked to a couple of times. She was very sweet and I enjoyed meeting her and her mom, when they came to church with another friend. She is a great doctor, she was engaged to be married, but sadly things didn't work out, so she is just a young single woman. She recently found out that she has bone cancer. She was living on her own in a really nice place until she got too sick to continue living on her own, and now she is back home with her mom. They are living each day one day at a time, traveling every week or every other to get treatment from a cancer center. As a side note, I was able to be so blessed by her. When she had to move back in with her mom she decided to get rid of lots of things. She was giving things to the Goodwill, but told my friend to check with people from church or to check with anyone else she might know who might be able to use some things. My friend thought of me and I was able to get some great clothes, shoes, bags, house decorations, a couple of outside planters, seeds, and garden tools. I came away with so many things, not just things that I wanted, but many that I needed and now I didn't have to worry about going out to spend money on those things. It was truly a blessing to me! Each of these situations are so different. One a pastor with a family, who probably doesn't have a whole lot, but has a family and a church family that he loves dearly. The other a single young lady with a great job, and someone who could afford nice things, but also loves her family dearly. Both are saved, and both realize the most important things are not things, but the people that God has given to them to love. Both are finding ways to accept this path that God has chosen for them and to live the rest of their moments to the fullest with the people they hold dear close to them.
After hearing updates on these two people and thinking of their families and praying for them, I then heard of a terrible tragedy on the news. Almost 300 people were on a Malaysian airliner headed to Kuala Lumpur when it went down in the Ukraine. All those lives were lost. Some of the stories of the people put life in perspective. Sadly, there were about 80 children on that flight. (Being someone who loves kids, that broke my heart!) One family of three kids was just heading back home to see their parents after traveling with their grandfather. There were young couples recently married, young college students, and even many AIDS researchers on that flight. What an awful tragedy for these families to now endure, such senseless loss of life!
On Wednesday I was thinking of things in a different way. I got to hold a miracle when I was in the baby nursery at church. Friends had these sweet little twins, but they came early, and had to be in the NICU for quite some time. The sister progressed quicker and was able to get out of the hospital and home sooner than her brother. He still had some serious issues that we were constantly praying about. Being able to hold this little miracle made me think how precious life is and how God does love and care for us, even in the face of some of our toughest moments. Sometimes it's tough to trust, but somehow we must. He cares! Life and death are in His control.
The next night I got a text from a friend with a picture of her son, one of my former kids, after he came out of surgery. Now this was strange because I had just been over to their house a couple of days before. I heard he wasn't feeling well, but it was just thought to be a bad sinus headache. Well, when checked further it was found to be a large abscess behind his eye, and the doctor said that 50% of kids with that kind of infection don't make it because of how fast it spreads. But this young, almost 7th grade boy told the doctor it wasn't his time to go because he hasn't fulfilled his purpose yet. Wow!
Then yesterday, I heard from another friend whose mom has been sick with Alzheimer's. My friend told me that her mom had to go to the hospital, she's been in and out of the hospital for different things lately. But the doctors told my friend that she may just have a couple of weeks left. That broke my heart for her and her family. We have especially connected because of the Alzheimer's and she is taking care of her mom at home just like I was. This is going to be a tough time for this family, and they, along with all of these other families are in my prayers.
With all of this how can I not put life into perspective? What is my life? What is your life? Are we fulfilling our purpose? Are we taking life for granted? Are we loving those around us? Are we seeking what is important in life? Are we trusting God through it? Do we have the right perspective? Having lost both my parents and some dear friends and loved ones, I am often reminded of how precious life is and how important it is to love others and let them know. Because life is a vapor and goes too quickly, let's make sure we keep the right perspective.
Lord, thank you for these things you are helping me to learn. Help me not to take my life for granted, or any other life for that matter. Help me to use it for your honor and glory. Help me to show love and appreciation for all the wonderful people you have placed in my life, and to remember those amazing people that I have been blessed to have had in my life and who I will see again someday. Help me to keep things in the right perspective.
