A while back a Friend of mine wrote some words that have been on my mind quite often over this past week. Through James, He wrote this: “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

This is something our oldest generation knows implicitly. It’s a reality that my parent’s generation has learned by practice and that my generation continues to avoid as we all near mid-life while our children simply have no means of understanding. For most people this is learned our the course of a lifetime, but for me, these past six months have shown this truth stronger than almost any other.

It’s been six months from Kyleigh’s birth, and those six months have passed like the breeze rolling off the Rockies. The weather is turning colder, the boys are growing older and life has certainly fallen into a new normal for us.  Smiles and laughter have largely replaced the heart-ache and tears of those first few months. There are still times for sure, certain triggers that take me back to those moments when time stood still. But overall, I think it’s safe to conclude that our focus has changed.

There’s not much secret that Leann and I are practicing Christians. We’ve made our confessions and we are eternally secured by the grace of God. While that took care of the most important transaction in life, there still comes about this messy practice of living life until it’s our time to move on to the next. And while we look forward to that blessed reunion, there’s still work that we must do on this side. So why not live fully? Why not embrace whatever life has to offer? To live passionately and love completely? Many people have reasons to live in their past. To dwell on what might have been perhaps in fear that if they let go they’ll forget what memories they have.

While it’s true some minor details may fade, the idea that we would forgot those life altering moments is pretty absurd. I prefer to think of it this way. I’ll take what few moments that I have left and fill them with new memories, fresh experiences, a renewed zeal and passion that surpasses all understanding. After all, lest we forget in the midst of our busy-ness, life is nothing more than a vapor.

~Rodg