A Reminder to Take Time for What's Important

Yesterday a friend shared the news that a relative of his just died of a heart attack, and he was himself a heart surgeon, taking up that career because of his father's death by heart attack. The thing that hit home, yet again, was he was only 41. I'm 41!

I say yet again because my wife's brother-in-law died a couple years ago, and he was in his early 40s as well. In the last few years, there have been a number of people my age who have passed away from this or that. I'm sure everyone can think of people they know that have left too soon.

What are we learning from it?

How often have we made promises to ourselves to do something, only to have time slip away until it is too late? Have you ever meant to get a hold of someone only to then hear the news that they have passed on? Do you have any regrets such as, "I wish I would have . . . before they died." I know I do. And there is not a thing I can do about those past regrets. I wish like heck that I would have done a few things, called a few people, said thanks or I love you to certain individuals before it became too late. Alas, I can't go back. None of us can.

However, we can look forward! We can take the time right now to LIVE and not just let life pass us by. Take the time to say thank you to those people you have been meaning to contact. Make time to say I love you to those you care about, especially those you don't communicate with that often. Reach out and mend those strained relationships before it is too late. Determine what is important in your life and get to it.

Each and every time a friend or acquaintance dies, I am reminded of my own mortality. It motivates me to get busy and work toward accomplishing the goals I've set for myself, and to make time for things that are really important. I still don't do as good of a job as I'd like. There are still people I have not talked to for way too long that I need to look up and reconnect with. There are still times that I don't do what I have determined is important.

Another death. Another reminder of my and everyone else's mortality. Another reminder that there are things I want to accomplish and people I want to thank, connect with, and tell them how much I care about them. Another reminder that they won't be around forever, and that we never know just when they will leave. Another reminder that I don't have all the time in the world, because I won't be around forever either, and we never know just how much time we have left.

I don't know about you, but I think I'll look up an old friend this week and make sure I connect with them. I'm going to spend some extra time with my little girl this week and help her with something she wants to do. I'm going to go out of my way to say thanks to someone before the week is through. I'm going to tell at least five people this week how much they mean to me. And I'm going to attempt to remember this on a continual basis without the reminders that seem to come all too often.