A Life Well Lived

   

     What do we want people to say about us after we are gone?  Do we want them to comment on our wealth, or how beautiful we were, or how our house was immaculate?  Once we are gone, do those things even matter at all?  Like the saying goes, "You can't take it with you!"  There is a passage in the Bible that says something to the effect if God doesn't exist, let us live for the day.  Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.  Now that doesn't mean any of those things are bad in themselves, but thanks be to God, we don't have to say that.  This life that would take a mother too soon is not all there is, we don't just have today, IF we have God.  I am so comforted to say that our friend, Cathy,  knew and loved Jesus.  How do I know this?  I know this by how she loved all those around her.  I know this by her servant heart.  How she was an amazing wife to Robert,  a loving mother to Coy and Cooper, an amazing daughter to her parents, a loyal sister to Debbie and Kim, a doting aunt to all her nephews, and a much loved friend to all of the rest of us.  The love of her Heavenly Father spilled over from her onto all of us.  She loved well!  There is nothing she wouldn't do for one of her friends or for her family.  Not too long ago several friends of ours got together to have brunch, and Cathy was the life of the party.  She beamed with pride when she talked about her boys and Robert, and she made us laugh hysterically when she told us about dressing Bodine for his son's wedding. Like I said, there was nothing she wouldn't do for any of us.  Cathy, Linda, and Debbie all came to my mother's memorial service, and I was so comforted to see them all there.  Our families have known each other since the third grade, and Cathy literally never changed.  She was always funny, always up for a great story or conversation, always ready to help, and always lit up any room she entered.  I will miss her laughter the most, and this funny little expression she would make with her eyebrows when something was really funny.  She is a reminder to us all to love God, love each other, and have a selfless servant heart.  This side of heaven we can't understand how God would take such a bright light from our lives, while so many other less appreciative people of life are left.  But I know this...  I know that God loves Cathy, God loves her family, and God loves all of us, and I know that he will give all of us, especially her family and her handsome boys and husband, the strength and courage for the days ahead.  I also know that we will see her again, I know that does little to appease the hurt now, but it will in the coming days.  We can learn so much from her life.  I know that I will try not to waste any moments with my family, that I will appreciate time more than I did before, that I will try to love more and better, because like Cathy, I want it to be said of me, "She loved God and she loved others well."  What more could we want from this life?  Cathy lived her best life, she didn't waste the moments, and she loved well, and now she is hearing from her Heavenly Father, "Well, done my good and faithful servant."  Let her life inspire us to live life to the fullest and appreciate our time together!