Live Like You're Dying...

I have never really liked that saying. I guess it just felt a little too ominous. It took the focus off the present and shifted it to the future, something I've always been a little scared of.  I suppose we all are, though, dying, that is. It's a fact that each one of us will have our last day on earth. For some of us that will be sooner rather than later.

This was brought to full attention recently through a tragedy that rocked our community, our lives. In February 2011, a 33 year old mother and her 8 year old daughter were killed while traveling home on the main highway that connects our coastal community with the greater Portland area. On that day we lost a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend.

As the news traveled, it was an eerie feeling. "This can't be really happening, can it?" Reality began to sink in and we all gathered our loved ones closer. We hugged them tighter. We were confronted head-on with the realization that we are not always guaranteed tomorrow. Mothers wept for those left behind and also pictured how life would look if they were taken from their own young families. Fathers sympathized with the father and son that remained and imagined what it would feel like to be in their shoes. Our kids were deeply affected. Especially those that went to school and church with the young girl. The question of "why" lingered, and still does.

I remember saying things like, "There is nothing good about this! It's awful!" I think I still feel that way, but I now see the some good in the midst of the awful. We have witnessed a father exhibit faith and strength in a way that some cannot even grasp. We have watched as the family members comfort others and draw closer to God than ever before, in the midst of their own grief. I am convinced that this is a supernatural gift from our Heavenly Father. It is only by His grace that we are able to get up each morning and put one foot in front of the other.

This tragic event has been a wake up call to put into practice all of those clichés: "live like you're dying", "live in the moment", "the most important things in life aren't things", etc.

This is the gift that a young mother and daughter have left with us. May we all use the gift wisely.