“For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the alter to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.”
Leviticus 17:11
What is Life?
Life is the air we breathe, the trees we see, and the animals that roam the earth. Everything that moves is filled with life, even things that we cannot see with our own eyes. God has given us all life. He chose us to become a living, breathing human being. God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock’s and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him: male and female he created them. God told them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”(Genesis: 26-28). God could have chosen me to be a bird, fish, or even a tree. Yet he made me a human. He gave me life. He gave my parents a gift of a child to take care of, a child to call their own. Not just once but a second time with my sister Emily.
God gives life, and he can also take back the life he has given. For the life we are given on earth is only temporary, but we have eternal life with our Holy Father in heaven. Some lives are cut short and are called back to God when our life has been fulfilled. For many having to lose a loved one is very difficult and hard to grasp. No one ever wants to lose someone they love.
Yesterday marked the third year that Ruth, a fellow teammate, had lost her younger sister Abby in a car crash. On April 10th it will be two years that my aunt and God-mother died of liver and lung cancer. Ruth’s sister died at the age of 21, my aunt died 4 days before her 55th birthday. Both died at a young age, to the people that loved and cared for them deeply would believe that they died way before their time. My aunt, who had been a nurse for over 30 years, had a heart full of gold and would do anything to help someone. Abby, from what Ruth has told me, was very multi-talented in music, and the instruments that had been her calling: like the guitar, drums, and piano. She was also a world missionary traveler, who touched the lives of many.
These two amazing women of God, who many have loved them both, had been called back to our Lord God, and Father. God has called them back to him along with many others, to serve him in heaven and to watch over their loved ones. The pain and hurt of losing a loved one is very hard. The peace I was giving in the passing of my aunt was that she was no longer in pain. The thought of my aunt in the arms of God had brought me peace. The vision of her in a white robe standing next to her parents and brother, my grandparents and uncle smile down on all of us that loved her helped me to move on.
We are given one life to live, a life that can be taken away when it’s our time to be called back to God. A life should never be wasted or taken for granted. I have been givien a great gift, the gift of life. I have to confess that in the past I could have done things better. I could have helped others rather than focusing on myself. The thing about life is you can always change your life around for the better. I plan to use the life I have been giving to the fullest, and not waste the greatest gift God has given me.
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Psalm 16:11
