On May 15, 2002, my mother had a stroke. Through three weeks in the hospital and Rehab Center, I watched her struggle to regain the seventy-seven years she had taken for granted. She had to learn to use her left hand and arm all over again. She had to learn to balance her body to compensate for the loss of her left side in order to be able to walk without assistance. When she came home, she had to give up a lot of her independence and allow others to assist her with eating, dressing, bathing and even little things like putting on a hairnet at night. It was very humbling for her. But through this process, I saw a change in her attitude toward life. She began to appreciate little things that she had never seemed to notice before. As she improved, she began to do things she had never done before. Some of the things in her house she had obsessed over keeping clean and perfect, she packed away in drawers. She very seldom bought herself anything but she began to talk about going shopping when she got able. Then, on July first, she had another stroke. This one was fatal!

My mother spent all of her adult life, about sixty years, worrying about her house, her clothes, her childen's clothes and her yard. Not a day went by that she wasn't cleaning or washing or both. Many times, I asked her to go shopping or somewhere else with me but she couldn't because it was her day to clean the bedroom or weed her flowers. She had just begun to realize that there is more to life than a perfect house and yard.

God gave us all things and He intended for us to derive pleasure from all the things He has given us. We become so obsessed with the things that we lose the joy they could bring.

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."

Genesis 2:15 "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."

God created man for three purposes. The first reason stated in the bible was for fellowship. God wanted someone He could commune with. The third reason was to offer up praise, magnify His name and worship and adore Him. Everyone enjoys being bragged on, even God. He wants us to sing His praises and tell how awesome He is. The second reason God created us is so He can take care of us. So He can give us our desires and make us happy. When He made Adam, He realized man wouldn't be happy if he was idle so he put him in the garden to take care of it and the animals. He then realized that man would be much happier with a compaion so He gave him Eve. After Adam and Eve sinned, God sent them out of the garden but He still wanted them to be happy. He allowed them to have children and grandchildren. Thus, humans had a family. Families should come together and enjoy one another but many times this isn't the case. God gave us homes, many possessions such as cars and boats. He gave us good jobs, families, friends, but still we are not happy. We wait until we come down to the last few weeks or days of our lives and realize we haven't been doing things we would have done if we knew we were going to die. Oh, we all know we'll be happy in heaven. I'm sure my mother is happy today, but I also know she could have been much happier for the last sixty years, too. And that's the main reason I cried when she died. I knew she was going to die for almost two weeks and I just kept thinking about what might have been. We had drawn closer in the last two months of her life than we had ever been. I wish she hadn't waited to die to live.

I hope you don't wait until you come down to the last few weeks of your life to realize that you have not enjoyed living. Now...don't go spending all your retirement money on a trip around the world because you may not die tomorrow! But...at the same time, try to enjoy all the wonderful things God has given you!
I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK!

LOVE, MEME

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