Each Day We Have Is A Gift,
A Gift That Is Renewed Each Day
Photo credit: Associated Press
"A woman who escaped death when she and her husband missed Air France Flight 447 before it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean was killed in a car accident recently. Johanna Gonthaler,a retiree from Italy, was on vacation in Brazil with her husband Kurt when the pair luckily missed the doomed flight to Paris. Fate caught up with them on an Austrian road earlier this week when their car swerved into the path of an oncoming truck outside the town of Kufstein, the Times UK reported. Kurt Ganthaler was badly hurt in the accident. Flight 447 disappeared from radar shortly after leaving Rio de Janeiro and is believed to have broken apart shortly after it left the airport in Brazil on May 31 with 228 people on board.The Ganthalers flew out of the country on a flight the day after the jet went missing."
I hate to post just a few days after my most recent post. We all have much to read and reflect on. But, with the recent news of this poor lady escaping certain death, only to a live a little over a week longer. It seems fitting to me, as the Interstate Batteries CEO did in my last post, to reflect on what time we have left in life and how we are going to use it. For me, I think that occurred when I hit 50. Kids were growing up and leaving home and I began to realize the time I had left was much, much shorter than the time I had already lived, and then shortly thereafter came my trip to Kenya, which added to my perspective.
Certainly, the most important part of our legacy we leave behind is our children, so that must be number one. I confess this is an area I still struggle to balance. It would be easy to stand on that statement and put ALL my time and energy into my kids. It would be less complicated and most of the time, a lot more fun! But then, what would I be teaching them, to always look inward? To always serve my needs over the needs of others? How can I, by the life I now live, teach them of the life I hope they live. A life of living, loving, giving, forgiving. A life of grace, of peace, of joy.
I've got a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I fail at those qualities daily. But it is the journey, the effort, the learning I hope my children see. I don't want to have to preach it to them from a soapbox. I want it to be self-evident in my life.
I would rather have weeks left to live and live it full of passion, full of the essence of life itself, then 20 years of sitting on a couch living life through the television, waiting for life to end.
Eaar
I hate to post just a few days after my most recent post. We all have much to read and reflect on. But, with the recent news of this poor lady escaping certain death, only to a live a little over a week longer. It seems fitting to me, as the Interstate Batteries CEO did in my last post, to reflect on what time we have left in life and how we are going to use it. For me, I think that occurred when I hit 50. Kids were growing up and leaving home and I began to realize the time I had left was much, much shorter than the time I had already lived, and then shortly thereafter came my trip to Kenya, which added to my perspective.
Certainly, the most important part of our legacy we leave behind is our children, so that must be number one. I confess this is an area I still struggle to balance. It would be easy to stand on that statement and put ALL my time and energy into my kids. It would be less complicated and most of the time, a lot more fun! But then, what would I be teaching them, to always look inward? To always serve my needs over the needs of others? How can I, by the life I now live, teach them of the life I hope they live. A life of living, loving, giving, forgiving. A life of grace, of peace, of joy.
I've got a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I fail at those qualities daily. But it is the journey, the effort, the learning I hope my children see. I don't want to have to preach it to them from a soapbox. I want it to be self-evident in my life.
I would rather have weeks left to live and live it full of passion, full of the essence of life itself, then 20 years of sitting on a couch living life through the television, waiting for life to end.
Eaar
I am in a state of aww at this moment. You said something that struck a cord, "The most important part of our legacy we leave behind is our children". That is why I feel the need to be me and make my father proud. I am proud to be his daughter and will forever continue on with his footsteps. God rest his soul. Wonderful Blog. Thank you for sharing. ox
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