By Daniel Garner
“Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them” – 2 Corinthians 5: 14
“I recognize that, on occasion, some of our most fervent prayers may seem to go unanswered. We wonder, ‘Why?’ I know that feeling! I know the fears and tears of such moments. But I also know that our prayers are never ignored. Our faith is never unappreciated. I know that an all-wise Heavenly Father’s perspective is much broader than is ours. While we know of our mortal problems and pain, He knows of our immortal progress and potential. If we pray to know His will and submit ourselves to it with patience and courage, heavenly healing can take place in His own way and time.” - Russell M. Nelson, "Jesus Christ—the Master Healer"
When it comes to experiencing life, I've ran the gamut of the spectrum. I have been wealthy as well as poor enough to realize the merits of generic Spam. I've been safe in my home and felt the tingle on the back of my neck from being in the middle of an Arabic desert. I've felt the joy of seeing the glee in the eyes of someone I loved more than life itself and had that taken away. If there's one thing that I've learned from all of this, it's that life will always carry on.
Whether you want it to or not.
It’s easier to ignore pain and push on. And, sometimes that’s good. Sometimes you need it. It’s not healthy to stop in the middle of a house fire to contemplate your life, after all. Then sometimes ignoring it and pushing on makes you wake up suddenly in the middle of the night panicking and not know why. One of the best barometers for who we are is what we do whenever we think we've lost something. What do you do with your pain? What drives your life?
How we react to pain can show a lot about us. One of the true tests of who we say we are is what we do whenever we’re hurt. Sometimes we just get hazy, can’t work it out. So focused on results other problems happen, like a car over-correcting and sliding on ice. This happens to everyone, and a test is how well you treat someone who is suffering, how you would help and how well you would guide them. The thing about healing is that you have to actually try. It’s easier to maintain our status quo of daily humdrum. But the danger of that is that we get stuck in a holding pattern.
There are some lives that you can reconstruct from the void they leave behind. Those are the brilliant ones. Those we've loved and lost in our lives our more than echoes. They are part of us. And just like their voice echoes in our hearts and thoughts, so will our actions give honor to their memory. And never, ever, underestimate the ability to say goodbye.
The Romans had a phrase, " DE MORTVIS MIL NISI BONVM". It means "nothing spoken of the dead unless good". Whenever it's our time to die, how would you want to be remembered? For all of the sins you committed and vices you had, just like every other human being alive ever, or for the good that you did? However limited? You certainly won't have a chance to rectify anything beyond the grave.
How we treat those who've gone before us shows the caliber of our character. It's not ignorance or a refusal to accept truth of someone, but rather an acceptance of the good that they did.
Subtract malice, add love and respect, and the result is true honor. Honor for someone who's no longer with us and honor for yourself enough to place true priorities on life
One of the many things about life is that it will always carry on, whether we want it to or not. The key to persevering is carrying along with it. These few days of March each year during the last few years always forces me take stock in life and what it is. How precious it is.
Especially if lost.
When you lose someone it’s hard to choose which face to remember. The face when you first met them, the face of when you realized that you first loved them, or the face of the last time you saw them. Or is it the face you wanted, wished now to see? Those hundreds of days that weren't lived? When every day that passes is a day that could have been? It's determining that, that helps you heal and move on.
In my entire life and my ministry, however feeble my words may be, if there is only one thing that I can help people to remember, it's this: Please never think that you are anything other than matchless among the best. No matter who you are. No matter what you've done. How worthless you may think you are. Because you're not worthless. Never. In my 29 years of life I've never met someone who is unimportant.
Giants of life do still exist, if even only in my eyes.
The Takeaway: In life, if you think you can make it, you can. If you’re reading these words you've already won! Psalm 91: 4 says "He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection". Make God your foundation, your anchor. Grow and build from there. Find something to fight for. What we’re willing to die for shows what we live for. Find it, and never let go of it. Fight until your muscles are torn, sinews stripped bare and your mind is exhausted and you can’t fight anymore and then KEEP FIGHTING.