Heavy Heart

This week two people left earth and it has really rocked me. 

The first was the son of our next-door neighbors from PA.  We lived next to them for two years and they are a wonderful family and the best neighbors you could possibly ask for.  They were a pastor’s family with 4 kids – 2 older boys and then a big gap and 2 sweet little girls.  Their teenage son Justin was in a motorcycle accident a few months ago and basically went into a coma and never woke up.  He died Thursday morning. 

Then just this afternoon I read a post on Kelly’s Korner that Julee Turner’s husband had died in a car accident yesterday.  I’m not sure if any else reads Julee’s blog but her and her husband had struggled with infertility for years and finally just had a super cute baby girl last December.  To think about a young dad passing away and leaving his wife and baby girl is just heartbreaking.  I know it seems so silly to cry over someone that you’ve never met but I’ve been reading her blog for years and I just can’t imagine the horrible loss she is experiencing.  And then to think about being pregnant with a little girl myself and thinking about Livi never remembering Chris later on in life…it’s just unthinkable. 

On Thursday night after we heard about Justin we were sitting with Luke in his bedroom doing the normal routine.  We pray with him and tuck him in and then one of us reads him a story (we alternate nights).  This night he wanted to sing “Jesus Loves Me” so the three of us sang it together in his room.  I looked at him in his little jammies and his sweet little 3-year-old voice singing his heart out even with his little speech delay and my heart just wanted to break thinking about my sweet neighbor singing with Justin when he would have been a little boy.  How her heart must be breaking right now. 

I am just struck with how fleeting life is and how much it really is a gift.  I am so, so thankful for the hope of heaven and Jesus. 

This week, let me just encourage you to be intentional about your time and making a conscious effort to tell those close to you how much you love them.  Hug your husband.  Get on the floor and play blocks with your kids for the 11 millionth time.  Call your grandparents and tell them you love them.  You just never know when there might come a point when you long for a “mundane” day with your loved ones more than anything else in the whole world!