Life Support

From life's first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny... Yet again, the hymns comfort me tonight.

We imagine our final breath will be when we are grey, skin-wrinkled and etched with laugh lines from a full life. No doubt the good Lord will take us in our sleep. For some, yes, but definitely not for the majority.

Within the past week, I have heard about the passing of two people I knew. One was an older lady from my previous church {I watched her granddaughter often in Sunday school}. Helen's cancer came back. The other was a man with whom I attended high school. He was my age. I hadn't seen him in over twenty years, but I remember him well. We were both in ROTC. We both had twin brothers. He was a CHP officer who was shot in the line of duty. He was placed on life support, but his injuries were fatal.

And I can't help to think: Aren't we all really on life support? Each breath a gift. Each heartbeat so fleeting and the next isn't guaranteed. The true life support that we have here in this place is from the Holy Spirit. This place is hard to walk through. This place is full of loss. This place isn't home. Without the true supporter of our lives {our souls}, we would be lost, too.

But, I admit. It's easy to become distracted. It's easy to focus on things that are so superficial. It is easy to forget that there are more important things in which to invest ourselves.

This morning, I was whining about my allergies and lamenting the fact that I couldn't wear makeup to work. Sad, but true! All the while people are truly hurting. All the while people need us to be present with them. We are called to help support life -to care for the orphan and the widow - as Christ's ambassadors in this place, this place that isn't home.

{And truly following is hard, and I fail All. The. Time. But, there is something hallowed in the trying. There is something truly beautiful about the broken being the balm.}