Unfinished Business

I will always remember that fateful day in September when America suffered the largest attack ever on our mainland. My wife and I were were excitedly preparing to go shopping for a crib for our youngest child who was expected to arrive in just a few months. As I waited for her to finish getting ready, I watched the saga unfold live on the television news. It was surreal. It was hard to believe that this was really happening. We were overcome with fear and confusion like the rest of the country. Obviously, we cancelled our shopping trip and spent the day watching to see what would happen next and praying for those who had lost loved ones in these terrible attacks.

There are many wonderful stories of how people miraculously survived. Yet, thousands lost their lives. I often think of that in terms of lost husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters. What began as a normal day like any other suddenly brought an unexpected end to their lives.

While there are many lessons to be learned from all of this, I would like to suggest one simple lesson that we should all strive to incorporate into daily life. That is to live with an awareness that life is short, fragile, and unpredictable so we should handle those we love with love and care because we never know what the day will bring. Ephesians 4:26 instructs us to be careful how we handle anger and to make sure everything is diffused and settled before the sun goes down. In other words, don't hang onto negative, angry feelings about anyone, especially those who are close to you. Then, in Ephesians 4:29, we are told to not let any unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only words that are helpful in building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

I suppose this could seem ridiculously simple to some, but I recently heard the results of a survey that said that over half of all married couples in America kiss less than 5 times per week. I think the lesson of 9/11 for us should be that every day we have the opportunity to pour lavish wonderful gifts on our mate and we should make it a point to do it. I would suggest that we begin to be generous in giving our mate hugs, kisses, uplifting words, forgiveness, and meaningful conversation because the future is completely unpredictable. Every time we leave home, we should leave with the awareness that there are no guarantees about tomorrow so let's express love to our mate right now while we have the opportunity.

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