The Cycle of Life and Death

In life, there is one thing that's certain, yet it's the one thing we rebel against the most–Death, whether our own or someone else's. We tend to traverse our lives as if we and the ones we love will live forever.

Yet, we all have expiration dates. We may think ours is a long way off and that the people we love will live forever but intellectually we know that's not true.

This week, I am being constantly reminded that life does indeed go on, ready or not. The world lost a great man, John Wolfe, last week. I know two other people probably living their last week this week  and yet, I am spending each day with my 5- and 3-month old grandsons. They are a constant reminder that people leave us to make way for new life. It's an amazing system.

Lately I have been giving a lot of thought to death and dying. It seems to me the Creator knew what She was doing when She created sickness and suffering. As we watch those we love go through pain, it helps us detach and prepare for the eventuality of their death. It just seems all is as it should be if we can step back and observe what's right about death.

What will it take for us to live each day as if it were our last? Live, really live! Time is the only real commodoty of our lives. We have all been given a fixed amount of time with 24 hours in each day. It's our to use as we'd like. We can use it for good or bad. We can be bored or excited with it. We can cram everything into a day or take it easy. We can spend it bored, dissatisfied, angry, frustrated, jealous or we can spend it happy, excited, energized, compassionate and grateful.

What did you do with your 24 hours today? When your time comes, will you have regrets? If it were today, are there things you left undone? Are there people to see, places to go, and relationships to mend? Tomorrow is not promised, what will you do today?

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