One individual's friend found out at Christmas time he had testicular cancer. He knew there was some sort of issue, but his pride got in the way from getting checked out earlier. This had the potential to be treated and cured and because of pride...he is no longer on this earth. He left behind a wife and four children.
My friend who is telling me this information is handling the news as well as can be expected. He is distraught, he is sad, and during this time of processing he is re-evaluating his life.
Less time in front of the computer, more time with my kids and wife...are verses which are coming through in his e-mail.
We often forget in this rapidly increasing fast paced world about the daily aspects which we take for granted.
With what I have experienced over the past 16 months, I have come to deeply appreciate sleeping in a bed, taking a hot shower, a good meal. I always give thanks for my food as I know there are many people in this world who are not able to have decent meals in their lives. After a hard days work training horses or working on the farm growing up, a hot shower always felt great. But, until you have to work to find one and actually get to relax in one, your level of gratitude alters. How many of us hate doing laundry. We don't understand what it is like to go without clean clothes. We just know the frustration of the chore, and take for granted the fresh smelling, clean clothes we pull from the dryer and roll our eyes at folding and putting away.
I have taken on a personal challenge, which I have done many, many times in the past. There is a daily read book, which I want to pick up every day and read the days passage. Every single time I have attempted to do this, I have dropped the ball. I have never read this book in its entirety. Hopefully this year will be different.
While going through a passage from several days ago referenced taking our life for granted.
"Simple Abundance-A Daybook of Comfort and Joy" by Sarah Ban Breathnach.
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth-and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up-that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had." -Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
This days passage references a play called, "Our Town" which I recall seeing in college as a high school production and I was impressed by the content of its message. Thornton Wilder's play is based in a small town, where a young woman dies during childbirth. She comes back as a ghost and realizes all which she took for granted. Breathnach writes..."Eventually her visit is too much for her to bear. "I didn't realize", she confesses mournfully, "all that was going on and we never noticed..."
When will the day come in your life that we cannot afford to throw away one single "unimportant" day and not notice the wonder of it all? We need to have the willingness to explore, discover and appreciate those special moments of our lives and which brings us joy every day.
Do you have a husband? Give him a hug and tell him you love him today. There are good women who would love to have a husband in their lives. Do you take him for granted that he is there?
Do you have a house, that you own? There are people in this world who are working extremely hard at just trying to pay the rent who dream of owning their own home. What came relatively easy for you to purchase and own your own home, seems out of reach of others.
Do you have a job you enjoy or pays really well? Put in a little extra effort into your job and be appreciative of that gift. There are people with college degrees struggling to find work. There are people with 20 plus years of experience who hate their job and don't know how to find the time to seek something else.
Do you have food in your refrigerator? Give thanks for the abundance which resides in that cold tall box in the kitchen. Many people in our country, would love to have such a wonderful thing in their life.
Give thanks for those little things you don't usually think twice about in your life. Your health is taken for granted until it is dwindling. The daily routine in our lives, the coffee, the wine, the friends, enjoy, take a moment to step back and give thanks for one thing. You may be fortunate and blessed to realize you have an endless things to give thanks and be grateful for in your life.
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