It's a new day...the sunrise is spectacular as I type on our back porch. I am chilly, yes, chilly, sitting here in my workout clothes because the current temperature is only 62 degrees...It is difficult to believe that in just a couple of short hours, we will be back into the nineties, the dog days of summer.
Did you see how blue the sky was yesterday? It truly was that North Carolina/Colorado hue!
Did you get outside in nature yesterday? My early morning mountain hike with my girlfriend of more than 20 years gave us a great chance to look in on each other's lives and work out at the same time. Awesome!
Did you go to your place of employment with new energy after the weekend and carry a positive attitude, which we all by now know can be very contagious?
Did you help someone in need yesterday? I had the opportunity to meet Melanie, a homeless woman in our community and help her out a little bit. She is addicted to meth and we talked a lot about her disease and how it had driven her down in her 30 years of life. I am hoping that the little bit of time I spent with her will go a long way to encourage her on this new day.
Did you connect with any loved ones yesterday? That includes those that live in our homes and those that do not. I had the blessing of a long phone call with my sister, Laura Lea, an afternoon visit with my husband, and a one mile walk around the track with our Daddy, age 89, his 3rd time for the day!
Did you stop for a moment and utter the words: "Thank You", to the One who made us? As a 50 something woman, that has become my most frequent, through-out my day, prayer.
Now that I am in my fifties, the list of loved ones that never made it to their 50th birthday has grown longer. There is my high school friend, Kathleen, a co-worker and friend, Debbie L., a best friend, Jil, our son's 1st grade Sunday School Teacher, Julie R., our Pediatrician, age 38, at the time of his passing, Dr. E. Umpierre, a dear friend's 40 year old husband, Doug, our nephew, age 25, Brad, just to name a few. As I consider each one, with fondness, it causes me to "take pause", remembering that every day matters.
Just this past week, a local mother, Jeanette Prather, age 50 and her son, Matthew, age 15 perished in a family car accident just south of Atlanta.
Mrs. Prather's husband and 18 year old son, Stephen survived the crash. While we do not know this family personally, we know that they live just a short distance from our home and we mourn along with them. As I read about Mrs. Prather in the paper, it was easy to see that she understood the importance of making her days count. "Jeanette was a loving wife and mother and a loyal friend. She was part of the Outreach Ministry in her church. Jeanette had recently earned her Master's Degree in Speech Pathology so that she could help children with speech difficulties." And in reading about 15 year old, Matthew in the news, it became clear that his parents had already passed the baton of purposeful living onto their sons: "Matthew had a real heart for missions in Africa. In fact, he was scheduled to leave on July 4th for a one month trip to serve the children there."
There is a favorite quote of mine that comes from The Sanskrit, a historical Indo-Aryan Language:
"Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is only a vision. But today, well-lived, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
Look well, therefore to this day, for it is life, the very life of life."
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The Prather family attends my church. Jeanette and Matthew were everything that the paper said about them, and even more. Their oldest son is off to college this week. I can only imagine how difficult this transition is going to be for him and for his father.
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