For the past few weeks, I have been working part-time at a lovely retirement home, doing various jobs for HR and Administration. My current project is updating the files of all of the residents of the facility. Among other documents, this includes organizing their Injury Reports, Death Reports, and Obituaries. I had many somber and silent moments today when I realized that a resident had died the day I flew to England, and another had died the same day a good friend got married. Every day, people are born, die, and get married. We live our lives, and often times forget that there are billions of other lives happening around us.
Not all of the residents I am reading about have passed away; many are still alive and living in the home right now! These men and women were born in the early 20th century, and most have served in WWII as either soldiers or nurses. It was amazing to read about the lives of these men and women, and the sacrifices they made for their families and country. For example, I was saddened to read of a husband who died thirty years before his wife. To go that long without your best friend! It was amazing and startling.
One major result of working at this Retirement Home is that I have grown ever so much in gratitude for my youth. Friends, let us embrace our youth! Go dancing! Run in the rain! Create things! Be wise, but be brave to try new things. One day, you will no longer be able to do those things, your memory may begin to fail you, and you won't be able to do the things you once did. Instead, you will be in a new phase of life, where you can sit and read the paper each morning with no worries about what to do after. You can scoot across your living room, with curlers in your hair. You can tell young students about what life was like 50 years ago.
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| Dancing! Walking! Young! Old! They have it all! |
Tonight I embraced my youth. I hung out with good friends, ate delicious food, walked around, looked at amazing art, and listened to bands trying to sound like Journey. {For those in SoCal, I went to Brea Fest...it was fantastic!} And I appreciated every moment of it, because I knew that each moment was precious.
Life really is precious. God has given us the opportunity to spend each moment here on Earth in pursuit of Him, and for those who love Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, that pursuit never has to end. We can spend eternity with Him! So, in light of eternity, my friends, savor every moment.
Lord, thank you for those who are youthful. Thank you for those who are aged. Thank you for showing me both ends of the spectrum in one day. Let me live each day in pursuit of you, until the very end.
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