in the blink of an eye.....

i got a message at 9:40 this morning asking for prayer for a girl from high school who had been in a car wreck in tyler. i stopped what i was doing, begged the Lord to heal her body, to give the doctors wisdom in treating her, and to give her the strength to fight and then i went on with my day, confident that the Lord would do exactly as I asked. then at 4:24 i got another message simply stating that she was with the Lord. just like that. one moment i was fretting about what to eat for dinner and then the very next second, mourning the loss of a friend. in the blink of an eye, she was gone. just like that.

"he has made everything appropriate in its time. he has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end." eccl. 3:11

he has set eternity in their hearts.

thats something i don't understand. and it's something that i don't think i ever will. honestly, it scares me, so i don't think about it. i like control. i think to know what is coming next and, if possible, to make sure that i am prepared for it. but the life that comes after this is something that is not in my control and i cannot manipulate it at all.

i was talking to an older lady last week who was commenting on another older friend that had gone in to the hospital for the last time. she said something that has stuck with me ever since then. she said, the veil between here and there is so small, so quick, so little. and it is. we are here this second and gone the next.

it makes me put things in perspective. the things i was worrying about this morning don't even matter right now. nothing really matters to me right now, except for spending time with the people i love and making sure i live a life that is worthy of the calling of my Lord and Saviour.

so tonight we didn't do any wedding plans. we didn't work out. we didn't worry about what apartment we will live in or whether i will drop my middle name (elizabeth) and make it zandstra or just drop the zandstra all together (a point on contention in the last few days). no, tonight we picked up hamburgers and french fries and rented the latest harry potter movie, since nathan finally finished the 5th book. we sat on the couch and simply enjoyed just being near each other and drank decaf coffee. tonight, we simply loved the life that Christ has given us.

so please, love this life, because today, tomorrow and yesterday were a gift. and i sure don't want to get to the end of this life and look back over a series of appointments and meetings. i want to have laughed long and hard and made sure that God knew that he gave this precious gift of life to someone who appreciated it and lived it to the fullest extent possible.