Make Today Count

Today was a draining day. As I sit here and type, I am not really sure how much I have left to offer ... but there are somethings that feel important to say.

It all started this morning around 10 am. I was getting some things done around the classroom, as the kids were at music, and my classroom phone rang. It was my dear husband calling to tell me that he was on the way home from work. My mind immediately raced to the conclusion that one of my kids was throwing up ... that the flu had finally caught up with my household. It was only a matter of time I thought, as I asked him why. The answer caught me completely off guard. He was rushing home because my mom had called him while waiting for an ambulance to come ad take her post haste to the hospital where an "emergency pacemaker surgery" awaited her. What? Stunned, I picked my kids up, did some daily housekeeping with them, and sent them off to my teammates ... who willingly took on 6 more kids each so that I could take off for the hospital as well. I spent the afternoon in the hospital waiting room with my family, and my mom made it through the surgery like the fighter that she is. Her heart is now regulated, and we are at home trying to decompress from an emotionally draining day. BUT ... that is not why I am writing. You see there is a bigger story to tell ...

Let me share how God protected my mom. My mom had a heart attack about 3 years ago. She has struggled with blood pressure problems since, but had been fine in recent months. This morning she woke up with a strong urge that she had to get to her cardiologist by 9am. She made it there in time, only to find out that she was 30 minutes early for her 9:30 appointment. They checked and found that they could get her in early, and took her back. When they took her blood pressure, they found it to be 100/4o. Her heart was only beating 40 times a minute ... the average for a highly tuned athlete like Armstrong, but not for a woman in her sixties that has had a heart attack. An EKG further revealed that one side of her heart was no longer beating the way that it should. Her cardiologist called an ambulance and informed her that he was sending her for emergency surgery. Did you catch it? We did. God intervened. God got her there in time. God got her there safely. God took care of her. We are so thankful that He did, and to Him we offer up resounding praises of thanksgiving. But ... there a bigger lesson to learn ... or relearn as the case may or may not be.

You see what this did to me today was to give me a painful reminder that life is finite ... that my mom is mortal, and will one day die - as will each of us - but ... my mom is getting older and the reality that one day she will go Home and will no longer be here hit me like a brick. (Funny how truth can hit so hard ... even if it is not a new truth.) It reminded me that each of us has a predetermined number of days to make a difference here on this plant. Our days have to count dear friends. Each of them. We need to be active participants in the minutes that slip by every day. There is nothing that we can do to make them last longer than they will. We have no say in how many days we will spend on this side of Heaven, but we do have a say in how we will spend them. Will we waste them with things that will crumble like leaves long forgotten by Fall? Or, will we invest our time here in things that matter like other people ... making a difference in the lives of those that we are called to love as we love ourselves? The outpouring of this love may look different for each of us. Some will adopt, some with uproot and move the far reaches of the earth to help, while others will give financially and prayerfully. Some will sacrifice their time, treasures, and talents to make a difference here. What matters is that we do it ... that we sacrifice self to help and love others. That is how we will be remembered my dear friends.

With this said there is one more thing that I would like to share. I know so many people that are carrying hurts and angers around. Let them go. Lay them down. Life is too short to be burdened with anger and pain. When will your last breath be? Today? Tomorrow? 50 years from now? Only God knows. What burden do you carry that is taking valuable time from you? Marriage troubles? Troubled relationships with close friends? Work issues? What is it that is stealing time from you? Resentment? Jealousy? Discontent? Be active, seek God's face, pray that He would take it from you ... and then willingly give it to him. Sometimes I think that we spend an awful lot of time praying for God to take something from us ... to heal something for us ... but secretly refuse to let go of the very thing that we are asking Him to heal ... and them blame Him when nothing happened. It is not that He won't rekindle love that seems all but dead, grant patience when there is none left, or break strongholds of jealousy and insecurity ... it is that we refuse to let Him.

Today was a painful reminder that life is short. It is finite. It reminded me that we are here for a purpose, and that God is waiting not only to use us ... but to heal us as well. Take a moment tonight. Contemplate your mortality. Question how your minutes are being used. Search your soul for wounds that steal too much of who you are and the time you have here. Earnestly seek God in these things with open hands and a willing heart. And when you are done ... take a deep breath ... take another ... and yet another. Cherish each one.

Lisa