Cherishing Life: Never Take Loved Ones for Granted

I once knew a boy who loved to have his grandmother come to visit him from far away. She showed him all the love in the world. They played baseball together, fished together, hiked together, and just spent time around the dinner table together. She could only visit once a year, but they both always eagerly awaited those times. Then one year, she was unable to come visit. She was very sick. He went to visit her, as he had done many times before, but this time he did not go to her house - he went to the hospital. Indeed, he never saw her at home again: she died the next week. He could not understand why he had never envisioned this happening someday. He never took full advantage of having her in his life. He did not call her as much as he should have. He just supposed she would always be there. But God called her Home - before the boy was ready to say good-bye.

Some years later, this same young man went to a summer camp hundreds of miles away. His parents drove him there, and after camp they picked him up again. They all had a good trip home. He had made that journey with them many times before, and many good memories filled them. He never thought this could be his last drive with both his parents together. But God had other plans - and again he was ill-prepared to say good-bye.

The lad in the above two stories is me.

Most people have stories like these, if not far worse. If you have not had an experience like this yet, you will. Life does not merely throw fast balls, but curves, change-ups, and frankly screw balls, too. We will all have to say good-bye to someone special someday. However, we can relieve some of the pain before it happens by making sure everyone we love knows it - right now, just as they are. Failing to do this in time can be more hurtful than the loss itself.

Thousands of souls depart from this planet daily to meet their Creator. How many leave home on their last morning without kissing their kids good-bye? Or the night before, how many fight with their wives and speak their last words in anger? How many die with unheard "I-love-you's," or "I'm-sorry's"? My grandmother did.