Life is Fragile

Life is Fragile. I’m reminded of that all the time, so apparently I’d better remember this.

On Monday I took my 37 weeks pregnant wife to the hospital, because she fell down a flight of stairs. I found her lying face down at the bottom of the stairs after hearing a loud noise while I was getting ready for work. I called my dad who made it over to watch the kids seemingly before I could utter the phrase “this can’t be happening” and we were off to the hospital. They did some tests on both Jen and the baby, and both are doing fine. My wife looks (and feels) like she fell off of a mountain bike with the bruises and scrapes to back it up.

Life is Fragile. I’m reminded of that all the time, so apparently I’d better remember this.

Last weekend my parents did something incredibly rare: they took a vacation. As a result, my family and I descended on their home and spent time with my 92 year old grandmother to save her from boredom. She’s doing great, and enjoyed the attention she gets from my kids. My one year old daughter thinks she is the greatest person in the world. We spent time together outside on the porch, spent a couple of nights there, and shared some meals together. But as great as she’s doing, she’s 92 years old, and age limits how much her body can keep up with her mind.

Life is Fragile. I’m reminded of that all the time, so apparently I’d better remember this.

I was in an accident a couple of months ago. On our way to tour the Labor & Delivery department of the hospital where baby #3 will be born, a young driver driving a large truck barreled through an intersection, and hit my car. Thankfully I hit the brakes in time to only need a new bumper cover, because we all realized at the scene that had our vehicle stopped a split second later, my face would have been lined up with the front right corner of a Chevy Suburban, which would not have provided much of a buffer between the truck and my pregnant wife.

Life is Fragile. I’m reminded of that all the time, so apparently I’d better remember this.

I’m taking more time to watch sunsets. I’m refusing to do “important work” while my kids are still awake at night, and spending just as much time playing with puppets and toy cars as I am with writing quality exegetical treatises to benefit all mankind. I go to bed when my wife goes to bed (mostly) which is the result of advice I received years ago in class from a professor named Dr. Stephen Bramer while a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. I talk to my parents regularly. I try to keep in touch with friends and former neighbors, even ones who move halfway across the country on me (which I am also now guilty of doing).

Life is fragile, and that makes me think harder about making the best decisions each day. Sometimes our decisions aren’t as simple as right vs. wrong, but rather choosing the very best thing.

Life is fragile. Is there anything you’d like to do different now that you’ve been reminded of this?