Life is so short-and is often times taken for granted. Why is it that it
takes a tragic event sometimes to remind people of this? Today I went to a
funeral for someone that I really didn't even know. He was a friend of Cody's
family and Cody wanted to go show his respect so we went. I remember hearing
about when he was diagnosed. I remember hearing about when he died. I remember during both of those times how I thought about his family and how much pain they
must be in. My heart went out to them. I prayed for them and kept them in my
thoughts and called and text my family back in TriCities to tell them I loved
them. Today, going to the funeral, I was nervous. I didn't know why I was
nervous. I mean, I had only met this man a few times. I was more nervous for
those awkward moments. You never really know what to say to someone who has gone
through something like this; especially when you really don't know them all
that well and haven’t gone through it yourself. I wasn't sure what to expect
and funerals are never fun. However, what I observed was so beautiful to me and
gave me a sense of peace.
One of the speakers at the service quoted Winston Churchill saying "We
make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give" It was
apparent to me that this man gave A LOT. Looking around the room, it was a
packed house. People were standing outside trying to listen. I looked around
the room, standing right outside, and couldn’t help but think about how many
lives this man has touched and changed. It made me think about my life. Whose
life have I changed for the better? If I were to leave this earth, what would
people remember me for? This thought stayed with me for the rest of the day,
and has made me do a lot of soul searching. All day today I have been
constantly thinking about this thought and my life. I have thought about how
selfish I can be and how some of the things I stress over are really nothing
worth stressing over. I thought about what makes me happy in life. I thought
about the amazing family and friends I
have. How helping people and just making people smile LITERALLY makes my day
and how I need to do that more. I thought about how I need to focus on the
positive things I have in life and take time to enjoy the small blessings life
has to give. I thought about how I need to improve my relationship with God.
How I have gotten out of the habit of going to church these past few months
because of “being busy” and how I need to make that a priority again. I have
been pretty blessed in life…and sometimes I think about how I don’t deserve it.
I still have both my parents, most my grandparents, and my siblings. I may not
see my family as often as I would like, but when I do see them, it is like
things haven’t changed. I have great relationships with my family. We truly treasure
every chance we get to see each other. I am surrounded by love. Today, as I
watched the family, I wondered how they did it. How are they so graceful and
together right now? They handled themselves with SUCH grace and through their sad eyes, asked how everyone else was doing as they were greeted. I don’t know what I would do if I were to lose a member of
my family. I am scared for the day it happens because I know it will eventually
happen.That day when you can't just call and talk for a few, can't go visit..I pray that doesn't happen for A LONG time.
Waking up today, I didn’t expect it to be hard. I expected it to be a little
uncomfortable at the funeral, but I didn’t expect it to be hard. However, I can’t
stop thinking about that family and how I would be if that happened to me. I take
so much for granted. Some of the things I stress most about are really silly. I
am healthy, I have a great family, I have great friends, and I have the most
amazing husband. I have Love. I am surrounded by Love. That is all you need.
Some of the things I stress most about seem so selfish to me now. I want to be
unselfish. I want to put others first. Even though I don’t think I deserve it, I
am so thankful that God has blessed me and given me so much love in my life.
Today, I was reminded of all my blessings and I thank God for allowing me to
be humbled by them. As I left the funeral today, I text my mom, dad, brother,
and sister to tell them I love them. Don’t wait until tomorrow to tell someone
you love them. Tell them today. Life is too short not too.
