What Would You Give?

On a recent ordinary morning, I went about my regular routine of working out at the indoor pool. As I was finishing up, one of the "regular" exercisers stopped and asked me how I was doing. Having just gotten over the H1N1 flu and having a sore knee and ankle, I responded rather flippantly that I was okay, but had certainly been better. As I looked into her face, she quietly said, "I've been much better." She them asked if I heard what happened to her daughter (she assumed that I had heard, since she also goes to church with us). I explained that I had been sick and so, I did not know about her daughter. She explained that her daughter, who was 47, had cancer three years ago and had been cancer-free until August. In mid-August she experienced some intestinal tract problems that they could not clear up. The end of August, doctors performed exploratory surgery and found her cancer had returned . She died last week, only a few short weeks after going to the doctors. As she fought back tears, while telling me this story, she said she never thought she would be burying a child. She then made a comment that struck me so strongly, that I knew I needed to write it down...to remember. She said, "You know I have a lifetime of things and there is nothing in all those things that I would not trade for one more day to see my daughter."

As I have thought about the events that lead her to that thought, I realized that most of us would respond to that comment the same way I initially did. Of course I would give up anything I have for the chance to sit and look through old pictures with my wife, to sit around a campfire with my dad, to fish once more with my Papaw, to watch ducks land in front of a blind with my son, to see my daughter smile knowingly, as she wrapped me around her finger one more time, or to read a bedtime story to my grandsons! However, the thought then struck me that even as I said this, I realized that each of us is asked this question everyday and every moment! The difference is that the question is usually disguised in the camouflage of the mundane. We are asked to prioritize on a daily or even hourly basis. Can you let that big project wait another day at work, while you go see a child's ball game? Can you spend a Saturday afternoon pulling weeds in the flowerbed with your wife or do you need to go to the hardware store and take care of that rusted gate latch? Is it more important to get your car washed than it is to go to the park with your grandson? Each of those questions can be answered either yes or no and either answer can be right. However, when looked at through the eyes of eternity, it seems to me that the real question is really this, is your relationship with the ones you love more valued than possession or thing that you have? It is my prayer that the next time I am faced with choosing between urgent and important, I choose important...the people I love!