What's Important?

It's been said that love can move mountains. I haven't seen any mountains relocate in my lifetime but somehow the saying seems powerful and true. I was chatting with a friend today and we were talking about love and what's most important in life. What do we value? He posed the question to me of - "What is important?"

I thought for a moment and then wrote this...

giving

sharing

honoring one another

lifting one another up

loving and forgiving others and self

dying to myself and my ways

acknowledging when I am wrong

being transparent even when it's scary

being accepting of one another even our faults

nurturing each others gifts and talents and building into each others dreams and heart

to give without expectation of receiving

to love generously and without agenda

to make sure the people I love know that I love them

breathing, laughing, embracing

I know there is more to what's important and maybe we all have a list unique to who we are and what we value. For me, love is at the top of my list. It believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things and it NEVER FAILS.

What is important to you? Can you define it? Are you living it? Acting on it? Creating it?

I hope so, because this world needs you. Your life, your fire, your love, your passions and gifts and expression. It's unique and wonderful and totally YOU.

Life

It seems like life has a way of showing up and smacking me in the face. Circumstances appear that cause me to rethink what I believe about God, my purpose or maybe even question why I am really here.

This past week was a week of loss for me. I lost a friend that was young (42) and vibrant and full of passion for life. She lived it well and was an survivor of cancer as well as a mom that loved her kids and family like crazy. She passed out at the gym one day, was in a coma from there on out until she finally slipped away almost 2 months later. Her family spent day after day reading and singing and loving on her as her eyes were closed and she laid still. Family reported that she would occasionally be found with a tear streaming down her cheek as her children would say goodbye for the day. She could hear them. She knew they were there but her brain was not willing to let her respond. Watching this scenario progress each day tugged at my heartstrings. This was my friend, someone I laughed with and hugged and shared experiences in life with. Someone I trusted my heart with and knew would speak truth when I needed to hear it. Someone with a great love for people - who wanted to help them achieve their dreams and goals. It gave her joy to serve. On the day of her viewing, 800 people were in attendance to give their condolences to her family. 800 PEOPLE! That wasn't the funeral - that was just a viewing. This woman impacted peoples lives and it made me take a look at how I am living mine and the choices I make. Am I living authentically from my heart? Am I speaking my mind when I have something to say? Am I giving of my time and resources to others - or am I all about my own comfort and small world? Watching a friend live life so fully one day and then be gone the next was one of those wake up moments, the reminders that come to us from time to time that say, "Hey - are you living life and embracing love?" "Are you telling the people you love - that you really do care?" "Are you pursuing the dreams that make you come alive - the ones you were created to live out?" These have been my ponderings the past two weeks. I don't want to waste my breaths. I don't know how many I have left. All I know is that I have been given life to live it. I choose to live it now. What are you choosing today?