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I had a painful reminder this week about holding your loved ones close because you never know how long you will have them. A friend of mine from high school passed away this week after a long fight with heart problems he was born with.

I remember in high school, Gordon always tried to be as involved in sports as he could be, even though he couldn’t do a lot because of his condition. Even with health problems, Gordon had the best zest for life. He always had a big smile and a hearty laugh.
He went on to to get married and have four children. His health started declining, and he ended up being hospitalized several times, almost dying before he was finally able to get a heart transplant. Everybody thought he would finally be okay, but God had a different plan. He fought long and hard, but in the end, God took him home to Heaven.

Why is it that some people just seem to breeze through life, and other people suffer so much? I don’t think I’ll ever know the answer to that question until I get to Heaven. Have you ever noticed that usually, those people who endure so much in this life are the ones with the biggest smile and the biggest heart for people? It’s like God gave them extra grace and extra fullness of life because He knew they wouldn’t have as long on this earth. That’s how Gordon was, and that’s how my friend Rachel, who passed away two years ago, was.

Gaining Perspective

Sometimes it takes losses like these to remember how blessed I truly am. When we lose someone far too soon, it causes each of us to sit back and reflect on life. It gives us perspective. Perspective is an amazing thing. It helps bring clarity into our lives and shows us what’s really important.

Perspective reminds us that this life is temporary. For some, it’s over way too fast. That’s a sobering reality. We can live our lives in fear of the unknown or we can celebrate each and every day as a gift.

That’s what I’m trying to do this week. I can’t take away the heartbreak from this young mama and her precious children, nor for the rest of Gordon’s dear family- his parents, his brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews

Hold Your Loved Ones Close

What I can do is hold my loved ones close today. I can choose to be present with the people I do life with. I can spend each day that I have soaking in life and being so grateful for all that God has given me.

We don’t know how long we have in this life. Each day is a gift. So, choose to celebrate it. Thank God for it. This is my challenge: I want to choose to live every day as if it were my last, to love my family today as if it were the last day I had with them.

A book to read along this same vein is The Hardest Peace: Expecting Grace in the Midst of Life’s Hard by Kara Tippetts. I’m not going to lie, it’s a hard book to read. But I can’t recommend it enough. Just keep the tissues handy.