After losing brothers, relatives and close friends, I come to realize
that it is not too early to mourn - for me. We go through
life on auto pilot not watching the clock or calendar. One
day each of us will be called home. Be ready! There
have been calls to awaken with "Tuesdays with Morie" and "The Last
Lecture" of Randy Pausch.
Here
are some things to think about - and then do something about:
1.After you have wept and grieved for your physical losses, cherish the
functions and the life you have left.
2.Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go
back. You want to go forward.
3.Dying is only one thing to be sad over... Living unhappily is
something else.
4.Everything that gets born dies.
5.Grieve and mourn for yourself not once or twice, but again and again.
6.It's not to late to... ask yourself if you really are the person you
want to be, and if not, who you do want to be.
7.It's not too late to develop new friendships or reconnect with people.
8.Learn how to live and you'll know how to die; learn how to die, and
you'll know how to live.
9. One hundred and ten years from now no one who is here now will be
alive.
10. So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem
half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are
important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things.
11. The best way to deal with that is to live in a fully conscious,
compassionate, loving way. Don't wait until you're on your deathbed to
recognize that this is the only way to live.
12. The little things, I can obey. But the big things - how we think,
what we value - those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone -
or any society - determine those for you.
13. The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love,
and to let it come in.
14. We have a wrong sense that we should be like the mythical cowboy...
able to take on and conquer anything and live in the world without the
need for other people.
15. We're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going.
16. When you look at it that way, you can see how absurd it is that we
individualize ourselves with our fences and hoarded possessions.
17. The culture we have does not make people feel good about
themselves. And you have to be strong enough to say if the
culture doesn't work, don't buy it.
18. The way you get meaning into your life is top devote yourself to
loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote
yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.
I pray to the Father for you to receive the Holy Spirit, to begin
putting God first in your daily life and to live each day fully as if
it were your last day. I ask this in the name of
Jesus. So be it. Amen.
