a reality check

Too often, I take my most precious gifts for granted. Too often, I let little things that bug me get in the way of the big picture of life that tells me how fortunate I am. Underwear on the living room floor, pee pee on the toilet seat, crayons left lying all over the table, bike helmets abandoned along the sidewalk, cheese wrappers littering the kitchen. These things, these petty things...no matter how frequent...just shouldn't matter at all. They are, after all, only things.

This week has brought some astonishing sadness. Heartbreaking loss. Devastating bewilderment. And with all of this, a reality check of what it is that is the most important in life. This shortness of life, the possibility of an abrupt end of that which we hold dearest in our hearts...of those relationships that give us life and purpose and fill us with the most essential ingredient of all, love...has come glaring into the eyes of many around us.

This morning, when I was cuddling with my sweet little boy, I held him a little longer and just felt the warmth of the life that resides under the soft skin of his hands and in his cheeks. When I kissed my darling girl's face goodbye this morning, I hugged her a little tighter and absorbed the sounds of her words when she told me, "I love you, Mama."

This week has been a reality check: I know that at any moment, those things could be ripped away from me. And, I have absolutely no idea what I'd do with my life. None.

 Please, in your prayers and thoughts, please remember the Shealy/Schiesser families, who lost a precious little boy, and the Bardin family, who lost a beloved father. Such tragedies call for blessings of love and hope and peace. Think of them.