Life Lessons

 A few days ago we learned about the earthquake that has brought so much devastation to Japan.  To watch the news and see what the Japanese people are experiencing is absolutely heart wrenching. If you're anything like me, you just feel completely helpless.  Even when I'm praying for these people, I'm at a loss as to what to pray for....how will they find peace? comfort? protection? It just seems like such a hopeless situation. At some point we just have to trust that God knows what He's doing even though we can't fathom it. 
We also had a local tragedy last night.  A young mother was shot and killed, along with her two very young children.  The man who shot them (the mother's ex-boyfriend) then killed himself.  This happened just a few minutes from our house...we even heard the sirens all night, not knowing what had taken place.  We didn't know this girl, but it still really hit close to home for me.  Just thinking about the senseless murders of those people just brings me to tears, especially the children.  Who deserves that?? My heart breaks for the family that is now picking up the pieces of this tragedy.  Their lives will never be the same.  It's so hard to understand why things like this happen to people.
These events really got me thinking about how fragile our lives are.  In an instant, everything can be taken from you.  We hear all the time that we are not promised tomorrow...and I think we forget that. We are always putting things off because we assume tomorrow will come. We put off mending our "broken fences" because it'll be there in the morning. We put off telling people how we feel because they'll be around later.  We think we have all the time in the world, but the truth is, we don't.  As cliche as it is, we should be living each day as if it were our last!  Life is too short and too precious to waste by being hateful, carrying around resentment in our hearts, and letting petty, unimportant things ruin relationships. We shouldn't miss an opportunity to tell someone we love them, to right our wrongs, to mend a broken relationship, or to do something nice for someone else.  Seize the day! Seize every moment! Make this life count because it's the only one you've got.