Don't Worry - I've Got Time!

So much of our lives are lived this way.

When I was younger, my parents would go to work during the summer and leave my sister and I home alone, with a list of chores, workbook pages, and ideas for other activities to do throughout the day. The rule was, no matter what, the chores and workbook pages had to be done before we could get on the computer, watch TV, or go jump on the trampoline. I would usually start out my morning thinking, "Oh, I don't need to do those right now - I've got time!" And then I'd goof off most of the day, only to be racing to get my list done by the time my parents got home. Now that I'm older and (hopefully) wiser, I've learned that it makes much more sense to spread things out, or get them done sooner rather than later before you run out of time in the end.

Why don't we use this philosophy more in our everyday lives?

In my last post, I asked for prayers for my friend Molly, a volunteer at an orphanage down in Haiti. We learned last week that she didn't survive the earthquake, and volunteers had found her body among the rubble that had previously been an orphanage. The concept that life can be taken from us so quickly comes as a sharp blow, but does tend to put our own lives into perspective. While I complain about things like bills, laundry, and those 5 pesky pounds I can never manage to lose, the people in Haiti are worried about basic needs like water, food, and shelter, not to mention finding and/or burying their loved ones.

Makes my own life and problems seem a bit (and by a bit, I mean a whole heck of a lot) insignificant. I'm so blessed to have a wonderful family, friends, a job, a roof over my head, my education, and my health. Comparing the two, I definitely got the better end of the deal.
It seems that the human race as a whole has the attitude that we are immortal, and the concept of death is very real, but only in the lives of others. That being said, we tend to live our lives as procrastinators to the extreme, never thinking that the precious gift of life can be taken in a split second.

So we create our "Bucket List," and we promise ourselves that we'll start tomorrow - but before you know it, 40 years of 'tomorrows' have come and gone, and we still haven't lived. While Molly's death is a tragedy in that she was doing such good work, and the work has been interrupted, it can inspire us to not only live our lives to the fullest, but to make our own lives more meaningful by going out and helping those in need.

Basically I'm rambling about nothing more than the fact that I feel we all have so much to live for, and yet rarely do. I'll miss Molly, and feel so sad that she died, but take comfort in the fact that we didn't 'lose' her, because we know that she can be found in Heaven.