WHAT LIFE'S ABOUT

                                                 

I have always felt that it’s not what you accomplish in your life that is so important, but how you lived your life that counts. For you see, when all is said and done, the thing that will live on the longest after you’re gone is how people felt about you. What you accomplished in life will probably fit on one page or even one paragraph, in your obituary, but what you inspired others to do might well be a book full. It’s the “gift that keeps on giving” long after you’ve left the scene, and in this case, it was my wife that gave the gift.

Last week was Valentine’s Day. Last year, I took out an old weathered Valentine my wife had given me, twenty some years ago. It was one of those with a little battery in it, and when you opened it up, it played the theme from “Love Story.” You remember…that old 1970 movie with Ryan O’Neil and Alli MacGraw. I kept it in my desk drawer all of these years, and the older it got, the fewer times I would open it because I wanted the battery to last. Then, last year after she had passed and Valentine’s Day rolled around again, I opened it once more. The battery was dead. I think the card was telling me something. That being, that lots of things—the battery in this case—only last for a while, but the real message that came with the giving of that card will go to my grave with me. That message being that she taught me how to live and love and she never meant it to stop when she did.

What have I learned in the last year and a half? I learned that you can sit and pine and wallow in your pity puddle, or you can move on…and maybe…just maybe, you will learn that you weren’t at a dead-end in life’s trip down the highway of life. That all it took was to build a new road around the obstructions that were put there, and before you know it, you’re moving forward again. It’s not a matter of betrayal or not caring; it’s a matter of survival and sharing with someone new what you learned back there on that path you traveled. Sometimes, we think we measure strength by holding on, but the true measure comes in letting go and doing the things you feared you could never do.

I saw this on the Internet and wanted to share it with you.

We don’t understand joy—until we are faced with sorrow.

Faith—until it is tested

Peace—until faced with conflict

Trust—until we are betrayed.

Love—until it is lost

Hope—until confronted with doubts.

Life is, and always will be, a series of learning lessons that do us absolutely no good until we use them. What better way to honor your teacher than to emulate him or her, and once again share your love. Love unshared isn’t love. It has to be recognized by others before it’s truly love. I bought a valentine for a special friend this year. One without a battery.

Readers. Check out my new web site.---www.mikeholstbooks.com