Saturday, July 7, 2012

thoughts

Death has been all around me lately.  It's the circle of life...some people you know lived a full life and died knowing that (my uncle), some died way before their time (Trey Erwin), and for one precious girl it forever seems imminent (Lucy Krull). 

I was struck the other day (while reading blog after blog, caring bridge after caring bridge) that we can really get burdened down with death.  While blogs and social media are wonderful things, you really get sucked in to the whole story.  (And please know that I do not mean any disrespect when I say this.  I'm just speaking from my heart.) 

As Christians, we should definitely be compassionate and prayerful of the people we know going through sickness.  Definitely, always.  We should not, however, get so burdened down with their stories that we fail to see the good in our own families.  For instance, Thursday when I was reading Trey's caring bridge website and bawling my eyes out, I might have snapped at my kids once or three times.  Yup.  (Please, don't judge.)  Looking back, I'm ashamed at that.  I was then, too, I just didn't see it like I do now.

When did another person's story take precedence over my own children? 

It shouldn't.  That's just it.  And while I am prayerful of people going through sickness, I don't always let myself get so involved.  (Yikes...that sounds selfish, doesn't it?)  Let me explain with a story that my mom-in-love has told me:

Phyllis used to know a lady who was a wife, a mom to multiple kids and she worked full time.  She was involved in everything...including Bible studies.  She was faithful to being in these studies, she was diligent, she never missed.  At some point, she became so engrossed in her Bible study at that time that she failed to pay her kids the required amount of attention. 

Don't you think that this story is sad?  If she couldn't take what she learned from a Bible study and somehow apply it to her life, what was the point in doing the Bible study in the first place?

This is my point with all the sadness that's around me.  I don't want to be so submerged with death and illness that I forget to embrace the life all around me.  This blessed gift of life all around me is evident in my sweet husband, and my four amazing sons.  I don't want to forget about them...I don't want to take a moment for granted with them.

And with all these people mentioned above, I think they would tell me the same thing.  I think they would want us all to remember to live life.  I think they would say to live each moment...the good and the bad.

These are just my thoughts.  Like I mentioned before, I do not mean any disrespect by writing this.  I am just sharing with you what I think God showed me the other day.  I pray that we all take the time to live life in each moment...no matter how big, how small, how seemingly unimportant.  We never know when we might breathe our last, and I don't know about you, but I don't want to have any regrets.

Love to all.

4 comments:

Shari said...

Great post, Jenn! I am a highly sensitive person so these things really touch me whether I know the person or not. That's one reason I have to really watch and make sure that I don't let myself get to wrapped up in their story... as it takes away from me enjoying the blessings of good health and wonderful family of my own. Like you, I mean no disrespect at all.

Phyllis said...

I have another story for you. When Tim was about 2 or 3 there was a huge story on the news for about a week about a little girl who was killed by her mother's boyfriend because she had a pretend friend named Fred and he would beat her saying she was lying because there was no Fred. It really got to my heart for that little girl and I cried and kept thinking that she was Tim's age and it almost affected me as if it was my child. My mother was disturbed at how upset I was and she told me that it wasn't my child and there was nothing I could do about it and that I had to thank God that I had a healthy happy child and get that out of my mind. I listened to her and never forgot it. This falls in line with exactly what you are saying. You are so right and I am thankful you realize this. I love you so much!!!!

Jennifer Goodwin said...

Shari, apparently, I am the same way. I cry for people I don't know, and when a friend of mine lost her two sons a year and a half ago, I cried for her...although that was very different. She was a friend...and of course when it's a friend it's different.

Phyllis, I kind of did that when right after Graham was born, when the Lipscomb girls were in that train wreck...remember that? I've always gotten "caught up" in what's going on around me. I might always...I just pray that I always realize the blessings around me...of life, and the health God has given us. I always think of Karen Kingsbury's line in the forward of her books:

"And I thank God who has, for now, blessed me with these."

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. Just recently, I deleted my caringbridge account because I was getting too upset over the stories. I initially joined to get updates on a former co-worker's battle with pancreatic cancer. Sadly, he died a few months later. By then, I was linked to half a dozen other caringbridge pages. I found myself becoming depressed and unable to sleep, thinking about these men and women in my age group who were battling deadly cancers. Finally, I realized enough was enough. Once the account was gone, I felt so much better! It sounds callous, but it's honest.

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