It's not a cliche...

I simply cannot put into words how much it breaks my heart to imagine all of the precious moments taken for granted every single day. Don't you know how blessed you are? Don't you know how fragile your life is? Do you ever think that maybe, just maybe, your last breath will come as a surprise? Then what?

I beg you to realize this. You never know when life will take you to the very same place that you pleaded with God to keep out of your path. Nothing is certain. There are no earthly promises.

Live like it's your last day on earth. It very well could be.

Love like it's all you've got to give. When it all comes down to it, it is.

Dance and sing like tomorrow you'll be crippled and silenced. You easily could be.

I really doubt the widow thought this would be the last day she'd kiss her husband off to work. I know for a fact that the excited, young parents did not expect to bury their infant daughter just two weeks before the date she was due to enter the world. Does it make any kind of sense that a three year old would awake to find his father beating his mom in the middle of the night? How about the police officer who had to call a family and let them know that their teenager had just drove his car into the town lake? On purpose. The mother who died of breast cancer, the child who spent months in the hospital as a victim of a car crash, the family left alone after the father decided he had better things to do... in a life far away from them. All true stories.

All the dreams, all the hopes, all the joy..... The hugs, the "little things"... Were those moments taken for granted, or worse... neglected?

I wonder....

And all the arguments, all the anger, all the complacency... Were those things ever their focus? Were they ever really worth it?

Of course not. But hindsight is 20/20.

So once the beauty of life is gone, whether it was passionately seized or not....
Then what?

Fight. Fight like you're the only force that could ever save your life and those you love. Fight like you're the only one who could find peace for your tiny, trembling heart. Because you are.

Run through the pain. Swim hard when your own tears form a drowning ocean. Try to come up for air... breathe... even when it seems like the end. Because it's not. Not until you say it is.

God promised to keep you from drowning. He never said anything about bruises, scars, gaping wounds, collapsed lungs, hypothermia, comas, and whatever else could possibly make you think you were on the edge of hell itself, but He did promise to carry you if you become too weak to walk.

And He will.

*~*

Another long day at the hospital tomorrow. Appointments, tests, all that fun stuff that I keep thinking I'm used to... until I realize that's just not possible.

Believing that HIS strength is made perfect in MY weakness. Resting in the palm of His strong, loving hands....



Be blessed.