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your life is sacred: honoring every moment

on this day, exactly eleven years ago today, my mother entered the Baptist for her second mastectomy. the cancer was vicious, relentless, and evidently insatiably hungry for the life of my mother. She had already had the other breast removed and she went into this surgery confident that it would be best. 

i remember her strength and her faith most vividly during this week. i also remember her strongly rejecting my request for funds to purchase a new shirt for the pastor's appreciation that was coming up that Friday. i'm not sure if my mother knew this was her last week on earth. there were no "final conversations" or any discussion of what was next for our lives without her. 

she would leave behind her four children, her dreams, and ultimately, a life well-lived that same night of the pastor's appreciation, which also happened to be All Saints Day.

my mother's life, her struggle with breast cancer, and her early demise at thirty-three helps define what has been the most profound lesson for me; that lesson being just how fragile life really is and how every moment is sacred. 

we don't decide what happens in our lives. some things will remain out of our control. but we do have a choice to lead better lives by being present and living at the highest level of consciousness. 

we can complain and resist what is or we can be grateful and surrender. 

we have a choice of the foods we consume, how much we exercise, whether we will succumb to the negative thoughts our minds will try to perpetuate as truth. we have a choice of who we allow into our lives (do they affirm us? do they lift us up?). we have a choice to heal the wounds of our past and understand that is only by dealing with them and choosing to forgive and let go that we can move forward. 

so here i am, eight years shy of thirty-three myself and even more determined to live a life of purpose and meaning. i am dedicated to living my best life and hopefully inspiring others to do the same. all of our lives are sacred to God-- they do matter. the best thank you to Him is a life well-lived. 


Comments

  1. Jessica SimienOctober 29, 2013 at 11:33 AM

    Jehrod, I loved this. Thanks for your wise words!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. THE YBW --- BY JEHROD ALAINOctober 29, 2013 at 2:11 PM

      Thank you so much, Jessica. You continue to inspire me. Thank you for reading.

      Delete

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