Celebration of Life

I have just returned from a gathering of people celebrating a life joyously lived. The crowd was large and varied and it demonstrated clearly that I had been witness to only a small slice of this young woman’s life. It was a lovely service with a strong message on making your life count no matter the obstacles placed in your path and the joy to be found by living in Christ.

I was moved by the music and the personal stories. I listened closely as friends and family shared how this one life had impacted their own and how the light shown through her loving acts of prayer, welcoming ways and impish spirit. But it was the photo album projected and set to tender songs that I felt the most revealing. What I found surprised me. I found a person I knew yet didn’t know. A look into the past and into a history I didn’t share.

This touched me in ways I didn’t expect. I have to admit that I am a person who lives pretty much in the present. Rarely do I dig too deeply into the past with even my closest friends. I confess to not knowing their face as a child or the joys and sorrows that helped them grow into the friend I know today.

My challenge is simple but oh so difficult -- don’t wait until it is too late...