The last goodbye.

Before I took over the car and drives to work everyday (thank you hubby!), my hub would send me to school everyday. After he dropped me, we would kiss goodbye and I would stand outside my school gate and waved as I watched his car disappeared down the road. People ever commented that it was unusual for me to do that. I am not sure if that person is complimenting me or disapproving of my behavior. Well, our family kind of have this 'cultural' of saying numerous 'goodbyes' to each other and endless waving before we disappear from each other's sight. My boys kind of caught this virus too as they will often stand by the gate waving and tearfully saying 'goodbye' to me as I went off for my date with my girlfriends. Everyday after we drop off our #1 at school, there will be many kisses, waving at the gate and at the window before we drove off, as if we are never to see each other again. I have a reason for doing this.

I realized the fragility of life. People around me starts to fall sick, really sick and left us, some at a really early age. While I was looking forward to welcoming my #1 who was to be due soon then, I lost a sister-in-Christ, who was a mother to a barely 3 year old boy, to an illness I do not know of. Friends who were barely 30 passing on. Tragedies reported on the papers, especially in recent years, planes crashed, the Sabah quake which took away so many lives. We really do not know when will it be our turn. Sometimes, lives of our loved ones are taken away so suddenly it's really difficult to accept. 

My heart is also heavy with news of the terrorist attack at Paris. They are people going on with their everyday lives, going out to enjoy a match, a concert, planning to have a great time with their friends and perhaps have a chilling session at night to talk about their dreams. Perhaps there were mothers dead whose children were waiting for them to go home to kiss them goodnight. Perhaps there was a couple who quarrelled with each other and planned to make up with each other when they reached home. All of them thought that 'tomorrow' exists for them. 

Of course there are many other war torn areas where people are suffering and fighting for their lives everyday. People who do not dare to think of their 'tomorrow', children who do not have any future to dream about. I'm fully aware that the condition of this world will only continue to deteriorate. There is nothing much we can do for them other than praying. But we can do our part to make the world a better place by loving the people around us, regardless of their colors, status or backgrounds because every person has a soul which God loves and has an equal chance of receiving salvation. The person being ostracized by his friends today may very well turn to the wrong company for the wrong attention.

A person who is loved, I hope, will think twice before doing things that will jeopardize his family's and his own life.

Let us treasure each and every waking moments with our loved ones. We will do things differently if we know that we are doing it for the last time. This could be the last bedtime story you read together, the last movie you watch together, the last meal you eat together, the last hug you give your child, the last lesson you teach, the last time you take a stroll back home together......I never know when is the last goodbye with my loved ones, but if it is the last, I want to ensure that I remember their last look, their last smile and their last touch.

 James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If The Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."