I attended a very sweet dedication service at the Iriqouis branch of the Louisville Public Library here. It was to honor my mother-in-law Doris Johnson for the many years of service she provided to them as the President of the Friends of the Library, a volunteer organization that helped the library in a number of ways. They placed a lovely bench in the garden outside the library doors with a memorial written on it to her honor. It was a well-deserved honor for someone who selflessly gave her time to worthy causes like the library and her church.
Sometimes we get so comfortable with those special people that we forget to take every opportunity to let them know how very much they mean to us. We get caught up in the details of our lives and fail to take the time to say thank you or express our love to those most precious to us.
I lost my mother when I was just twenty-five to heart failure. The first attack hit her and put her into a coma that lasted for three days, a time that I often remember as the longest three days of my life. We set our lives aside and set up watch over her, hoping and praying for the miracle that would never come. Never have I leaned on my faith as much as I did during that time, and when the moment came, I learned how hard it was to do something that should have been so simple. I let go, knowing that this was what life required of me at that time.
Time has not eased the loss of that moment. Mom was my biggest fan, an encourager of all good things that I tried to do, and a guide who steered me away from the mistakes that I would have made without her being there for me. Even after losing her, the memory of her guided me to always try to do the right thing in each situation that I faced.
We treat time as if it were promised to us, but over and over, I have seen instances where someone regretted the lack of just a few minutes more to say what they felt. Don't be one of those who hangs his head in sorrow, saying, "If only I had....."
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