Thursday, November 5, 2009

The Gift

Life is a gift. That's the comment that I heard on my radio this morning at 6:15 AM, when my alarm went off. It's not really an alarm, but instead, the Christian radio station comes on and delivers soft music to my sleepy brain. A nice way to be awakened. Especially to these words: Life is a gift.

You know, I hear those words, and I believe them to be true, but do I truly live them? Do I see each day as the unique blessing - or the gift - that it was meant to be?

Yesterday, I had my MRI scan. I survived it, even though I'm glad that that's over with for another year (hopefully). But as I drove home from the hospital afterwards, did I really behave as if life is a gift, or was I just so glad to be out of there, that I overlooked the most important fact: I have the gift of life. And I'm well enough to drive, to shop for groceries, to shower, to run, and to do all the things that I take for granted every day. And suddenly, sitting behind the wheel of my minivan, I found myself mentally caught in that hard place between being a woman and acting like a child. I moaned about the test; I worried about it and what the results might show. Immature in my thinking, I realized that I was not unlike a young girl who doesn't understand that life really is a gift. And we're all called to use that gift to fulfill God's purpose for us.

To a large degree, we make each day what we want it to be. Sure, there are bumps in the road that trip us, and we find ourselves flat on our faces at times. Cancer did that to me. But we're strong. We get up, brush the dirt off our skinned kness, and we keep pressing on. Each day. Don't get me wrong: the scans, the monthly doctors' appointments and blood tests, and especially the agonizing wait for the results - those things are often insurmountable and can cause me to toss and turn at night.

But the bottom line is this: Each day is a new start. It might be a difficult day, or it might turn out to be one of our best. Either way, with God in control of each day, I'll rest knowing that it's His gift to me. Now it's up to me to use His gift the way He wants me to.


2 comments:

Sara Diana said...

Life is a gift! I am amazed at each new day, I am alive, I am alive! Its great!

Debby said...

I believe that this is why we are called to be in community. Because we do falter. Because we do lose our perspective in the day to day buffeting winds of life. And we turn to the people around us and are gently supported until we get our footing again. Life is a gift. Surround yourself with people that understand that, and it will help, it will help a lot.