Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.
~Benjamin Franklin.
Later this year, my mom will have been gone for five years. It’s hard to believe it was just yesterday I could call and catch up on the day’s news. Still, from time to time, I’ll reach for the phone and then realize I can’t call her anymore.
I’m sure you’ve had the same experience with someone in your life.
My mom died suddenly at 84 during what was to have been a routine medical procedure.
As with most people, we learned quite a bit about my mom after her death, relics stored away in boxes, in attics and closets. My dad died in 2017 after a lengthy illness, so we knew she had bouts of loneliness and fear since they had been married for 63 years. She struggled with maintaining the house they’d built in 1972 but
preferred to manage things on her own. As you may know, people in that generation are very private, so we honored that.
But while she battled the emotional heaviness of lonesomeness and navigated the road of her golden years without my dad, she struggled with many things behind the scenes.
You can read more of her story and her later years here. Check out THIS.
But perhaps you’re like my mom — or know someone like her. Maybe you’re not as old, but wondering if you’ll ever smile again or laugh again. As you can see on the top of her calendar, she had written her dream to smile again, laugh again, and live again.
Fear and depression are two of your greatest enemies, and they can be two thought battles. But giving up can not be an option.
The experts will tell you that hope is not a strategy, but it is a kingpin if you’re not living your abundant life. Hope in your life is like oxygen and water to your body. It’s not only mandatory. It’s a lifeline.
Can you stop for a minute? Where are you in your life? Be honest. Are you living the abundant life, the life you were called to live? Here are five areas in which you can take inventory:
- Career/job/business.
- Finances.
- Relationships.
- Health.
- Spiritual/emotional well-being.
Are you smiling? Are you laughing? Are you living? Or is life a chore to get from day to day? You can have all the friends in the world, and your health or finances can be excellent, but you can still live alone and secluded — physically, mentally, or emotionally.Many people today are successful but not fulfilled. They work at a job that provides a paycheck, but they’ve set aside their dream because they don’t have time or motivation. Ricocheting week to week from event to event past mile marker to mile marker. Existing, not living, and experiencing. Happy and content, perhaps, but missing out on the fulfillment that God promises.
Jesus didn’t come to just “give you life”, but he offered to give you life “more abundantly.” (John 10:10) Don’t settle for the crumbs, don’t set down roots in happy and content; step into the water with both feet.
Like my mom, you can live again, laugh again, and dream again. Choose life! Tell your heart to beat again!
HELPFUL RESOURCES.
Video: Tell Your Heart to Beat Again. The Backstory with Randy Phillips.
Article: The Antidote for Your Challenge.
Article: The 7 Words of Chip.
Download: Your Cheat Sheet.
~Jonathan Swift.