A Recurring Lesson

ã Dr. Gary D. Lemmons, March 21, 2006

Over the past five days, I have said good-bye to two very good friends.  Tom, who, along with his wife Carol, I have known for some 32 years, since I first came to Georgia, succumbed to illness, and I attended his memorial service on Saturday.  Bobbie, I had known almost as long, and Debbie and I had shared a close friendship over the past decade or so with her and her husband, Tommy.  Bobbie passed after suffering an unexpected stroke and was buried on Monday afternoon.

Once, again, I am reminded of a lesson that all of us learn early on in our lives.  Then, we seem to forget it until tragedy occurs and we learn it again.  Still we forget, and we are reminded still another time, and another, and another.  The lesson is this:

We have no guarantee of another day or even another hour of life.  We are poised precariously upon the ledge of eternity, and we have no wisdom as to when or how soon we will step off into that undiscovered country from whose boundaries no traveler returns.

With this knowledge, we should, at every instant of a well-spent life, make sure that we have done three things:

1. Completed all of our work, met all of our obligations, and performed all of our duties (up to that point) as punctually, effectively, and proficiently as we possibly can;
2. Have done no injustice or wrong to any neighbor or stranger within our realm of acquaintance, but treated all persons uprightly and impartially according to the Golden Rule;
3. Made certain that we have made known to those that we know, respect, and love just how much they mean to us, just what their worth to us is, and how much we value and need them.  Especially, to our spouses, children, family members, and close friends, we need to be careful not to take them for granted or fail to let them know that we care about them.

I, highly, resolve that I am going to try to remember this lesson better than I ever have before.  Sadly, I know that if life remains with me, I will have to relearn it again, but I am going to try to do better. 

I hope you will too!