Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words

Ken was still madly in love with Mary after 40 years of marriage.  Everyone could see that! But Mary unexpectedly passed away with cancer, and Ken found himself alone and heart-broken.

A few weeks later, Ken ran into his neighbor Lysa at a restaurant. She asked him how he was doing, and although he smiled when he answered, he admitted the silence was killing him. Lysa insisted Ken come for dinner. She and her husband have five kids, so she added the disclaimer that she couldn’t guarantee what the house might look like and warned him that they are quite a lively bunch, but she could guarantee there would be no silence. He accepted.

When Ken arrived for dinner, life was hectic. As Lysa tells it,

The boys were picking on their sisters, the puppy wet the carpet again, the phone was ringing, my youngest was jumping on the couch, and I was trying to manage…our dinner.  I apologized for not remembering to offer him something to drink right away. When he graciously said, “No problem,” he added, “Enjoy this, Lysa. Enjoy every moment. It goes by so fast.”

Throughout the evening, Ken continued with this same gentle reminder. Though he said it in different ways and at different times, the message was always the same. Savor every moment of this precious time. Life is here. Precious, loud, hectic, messy, beautiful, rich, irreplaceable life…. And the time to enjoy life like this is short.[1]

Many years ago King Solomon wrote, “There was a man all alone; he had neither son nor brother. There was no end to his toil, yet his eyes were not content with his wealth. “For whom am I toiling,” he asked, “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” This…is meaningless–a miserable business!” (Ecclesiastes 4:8).

People, not things, are what really count in life. Stop right now and thank God for those noisy, messy, precious, beautiful people He has put in your life. The time to enjoy them is now.

 

 

[1] Lysa TerKeurst, What Happens When Women Walk in Faith (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2005), 139-141.