2 gifts today

I'm sidetracking from the joy dare today to share 2 gifts that are big for me this week...

Life
Death

Of course we are thankful for life. But death... well without death (and the fear of losing someone) we can't really appreciate life. We need those hard times, those valleys, to really appreciate the beauty of the top of the mountain. It reminds me of a mountain I climbed as a kid. We started by going up the valley. It was dark and damp, and often eerie. We knew that's where the bears would be. It was beautiful too though... there was a comfort of being tucked in this area, and the incline was gentle. But there were a lot of logs to climb over, and dead brush on the floor to step on and trip us up. And as we went further up, the climb got more difficult because it was often steep, and sometimes even a bit dangerous. But once we reached the top, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. And looking down towards the valley we started in, well you could only see trees. Lots of lush green trees. You couldn't see the dead stuff on the ground, you could only see what was growing because of that. Now of course, I could have focused on how tired I was, and how difficult it was to get to the top, but why, after all that work, would I not appreciate the view I had set before me.

This week has been a big reminder about these 2 gifts. Last weekend, a neighbor of mine lost her 5 year old son to an aggressive cancer. And then just 2 nights ago, I almost lost my dad to a heart attack. Sometimes we just need that perspective of how fragile life is, to really truly enjoy it.