My friend is getting sicker. Little by little his hands and his arms and his body is deteriorating. It is the stuff that we take for granted that becomes so precious – the ability to pick up a phone, to type, to hug, to caress, to cut the grass, to wash a car…to dress oneself – that is so quickly lost. And like the person you never had a chance to bid farewell before they passed, the things are gone without ever having had the chance to appreciate that last moment.

It is, I suppose, one of the reasons Jesus admonishes people to live in the present and to live with gratitude. I am grateful that I can type and I can hug and I can pick up the mess around my desk…and bed…and dresser. I am grateful I can tickle my children. I am grateful I can pick up a glass of water and drink. I am glad I can hold my wife’s hand.
It is so easy to look at those things and think them trite – they are not trite. They are life.