Living

I've been writing a funeral this week. My grandmother, we call her Mommahaze, turned 95 years old on Wednesday, but she is nearing death. Every time my phone rings I think it's going to be my dad letting me know that she's moved from here to there. We're all surprised she's still here. Soon and very soon she'll be there. 

There's a weird pressure in writing a funeral for your grandparent. I've written three funeral sermons for the service over the past two weeks trying to figure out what to share and think I've finally settled on what I'm going to say.

But there's something I'm not going to say that needs to be shared, and I thought I'd use this blog as the platform for the sharing.

The Dr. came in to see Mommahaze last week and made a very profound statement to my dad: There's a difference between being alive and living. 

Mommahaze has been alive for the past two months, but she really hasn't been living. She's been dying. Death is a process. She's close to the end of the process. 

I was thinking about that idea and have come to a conclusion: There are a lot of people alive on planet earth, but there's not a lot of living going on.

There's a lot of "going through the motions" going on. There's a lot of "substitute living" going on. But there's not a lot of "living" going on. I think that's because too often we attempt life apart from the author of life.

Jesus tells us that he came to give us life, and not just any life, but abundant and full life. 

Real living starts with Jesus. Life apart from Jesus is just a poor substitute for the real thing.

I encourage you to commit your life to the one who brings true life. It would be tragic to get to the end of your life and discover that while you've been alive that you missed out on living.