A Time to Cherish

This past week has not been the most exciting or uplifting week. To be completely honest, I feel very down and I just need to share what is on my heart.

A coworker/friend of mine’s mom passed away suddenly on Thursday morning.  My co-worker was at work when she received the phone call and it was awful.  I will never forget that moment for the rest of my life. They were supposed to celebrate Christmas TODAY as a family (brother/sister/mom/dad/grandkids) but for reasons we don’t understand, they are not going to get that chance. The timing of her death was awful.

As a work department, we are all very close. They are my 2nd family and I love them all. When one hurts, I hurt. I think it was a wakeup call to our entire department – that could have been ANY of us.  Her mom was only 57 years old. They decided to have a memorial service for her on Friday afternoon, so all 6 of us piled into a car and drove to her mom’s service in a town 3 hours away (see, I told you we are all very close…I don’t drive 3 hours away for just anyone!).

One of the hardest parts of the entire thing is my friend’s little girl. She’s 5 and was very close to her grandmother. She called her grandmother EVERY night and was at staying at her home the week she passed away. She witnessed her grandmother being driven off by the ambulance and fully came to realization that night that her grandmother was not returning. It’s so sad that at such a young age, she is old enough to understand and feel the hurt.

Working around death is hard enough in itself – but having to deal with it on a personal basis is even more tough. I go through these “down” times every few months, I cry for a few days, then I’m ok again; so that’s what I’ve been doing the past 2 days – nothing but crying.

To make matters worse - 2 weeks ago, a 33 year old that I go to church with passed away suddenly & last night, our physicist dad passed away.

So much death and sadness when the holidays are supposed to be a happy time – it shouldn’t be this way.

I’m not trying to depress anyone, I just need to speak what is on my heart.

Everyone is born to this earth with a time that they are going to die. It’s a part of life.  They say “Life is Short” and “they” are so right only sometimes, we don’t realize just how short life is until it’s too late. You never know what tomorrow will hold - so call your mom, call your dad, your loved ones, your friends and family and tell them that you love them. I called my mom on Thursday, just to hear her voice.

The ironic part of it all – as one life is being taken from this earth, another new life is being born. I get overwhelmed at times because it’s too big and too complicated to contemplate life and the reasons things happen. We just have to trust that God knows what He’s doing and put our faith in Him.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
¹ There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

I will return tomorrow with a much more uplifting blog post. I’m sorry for being so down.

I truly hope everyone has a good New Year’s Eve. We are going to a friend’s house for the evening to celebrate. I will also soon begin a recap of our Christmas celebrations!

Remember you never know what tomorrow will bring, so cherish those people who are in your life NOW – don’t wait.