Do you take tomorrow for granted?

Do you take tomorrow for granted? We live in a fast-paced society, and we all have moments where we are forced to schedule our lives weeks and months in advance. When we schedule the dentist appointment for 6 months from now or we book a cruise nearly a year in advance, aren’t we taking it for granted that we will be here when that date arrives? Think of how many people started their day on 9/11 not realizing that their life would forever change in an instant. As they slipped out of bed that morning, they had no idea that the world they knew would come crashing down around them.

Even when we have a loved one with a terminal illness or a child such as Sammy, we know that dreaded day will eventually come–probably sooner rather than later. From that perspective, we learn that time is so very precious, and we can’t take any time for granted.

This week, a family I care about is hurting from the heartache of their daughter’s passing with HPE. When I think of their daughter from my perspective, I can make a list of so many things that she did in her short life and the experiences she had. Her parents didn’t sit around feeling sorry for themselves; instead, they celebrated the blessing of her life knowing that time is precious.

Little did I realize that Steve and I have been modeling our grief for them in preparation of their own grieving. This family has been there as a witness to our darkest hour of mourning, the most heartbreaking day of our life, and our joyous celebration even in the midst of our sadness.

In our HPE world, we often say that we’re on a journey together. I like to think that we each carry a candle which lights our path and makes the journey a little easier to navigate; but, when our child passes away, that candle is extinguished. That’s when we look up to seek others who are ahead of us in our journey, and if we reach out to them, the light from their candle can be shared with us as we learn to navigate a new portion of the journey. The unexpected part of the journey is that we discover others who are willing to walk side-by-side with us until we find our own way, and once that happens, we are able to share our light with others.