Perspective

Life, it's rough huh? There is so much that comes to mind when I see or hear the word life. Busy, short, hard, fun and the list goes on. There is so much for us all individually to get done while in this life. We are taught from our youth that working hard is expected from us, and that good things will happen if we work hard. When we wake up in the morning, most of us immediatlely do a quick run through in our minds what we have to get done throughout the day and how busy we are. While at work and school there are deadlines, schedules and priorities and we will amost kill our selves to reach these deadlines and abide by the schedule. We are taught to get all we can out of this life and take every opportunity to better ourselves and have good experiences. We know that we are here on earth to "Prepare to meet God..." that means work work work right? It is a difficult thing to prepare to meet God. Our fathers go to work everyday to provide for us, their family. In this time of economic crisis it is especially stressful for fathers to maintain their jobs and salaries as to provide for needs of loved ones. In my situation as a student, it is very hard finding a good job that provides both, ample pay and flexible schedule so that I can succeed in school and life. I won't even get into dating and trying to find someone to share this "busy, hard, unfair" life with, but that does add an interesting twist to lifes struggles. This all seems so important right? I mean, what else is there to worry about? well, unfortunately prior to this week this was, to some extent, my mindset. That has all changed in my mind, forever. On monday as you may or may have not already read in my previous blog, my dad had three blood clotts pass through his heart and lodge in his lungs. For those of you who don't know your medical anatomy, a blood clott that enters the heart and stays causes cardiac arrest aka heart attack. I guess you could say he was "lucky" to have them go to his lungs, although he would not agree he was so lucky! After spending 6 days in the hospital (which is 6 more than I have seen him in a hospital previous to this) fighting through pneumonia and other side effects of his condition he was finally released home today. The Doctor told us as we checked him out that had my mom not brought him into the ER when she did on monday, we would have been attending his funeral today instead of bringing him home with us. WOW! If you have ever been scared in your life, or ever had your stomach in your throat, trust me it does not compare to the feeling you get when you here your hero was hours from death. I am sure I will never fully understand just how blessed he was and how blessed we all are to still have him here with us. As I sat and ate dinner with my mom tonight, I could not help but think over and over in my head what I have learned from all of this other then that I love my Dad and repsect him above all else. A thought kept entering my mind, perspective. Something like this, or even worse, an actual death, brings true perspective back into our lives. The month worth of multi-million dollar deals that my dad closed in the previous month at work, the extremely large ward that he bishops, my non-existent dating life, my struggles to find work, all of our family issues and concerns.......they quickly took a back seat to Dad's health. I realized that what makes this life so joyfull is not what we do, it's who we do it with. It's not about the work we do at our job, it's who we do the work with. It's not about where we go each day, it's about who we brush shoulders with along the way. Home is "home" to me not because it is where my room is, and my TV, it is because my family is here. This is no doubt why the Lord gave us power to seal family together and allow our relationships to exist on the other side of the veil. Think about that next time you decide "something" takes priority in our lives over "someone." We should all try a little harder to keep an eternal perspective in all that we do. I know it is easier said than done, but it truly makes a difference in the way we treat eachother and how we look at situations. And it might even cause you to relax a little and get rid of some of that stress that "things" in life often bring. I am so grateful for this lesson that has been etched onto my heart for good because of the last week. I wish that something so scary didn't need to happen for me to come to these conclusions and undersandings. That is why I chose to write this blog, hopefully someone will read it and change their perspective on their own. I will leave you with this one last thought. When was the last time you let someone you love leave your presence and you did not tell them that you loved them? If you knew it was the last time you would see them, would you let that opportunity slip away? The truth is, we will probably not know the last time we see a loved one, so don't ever let that happen........."Love who you love, and say that you do!"