… there has to be a reason, there has to be a cause
the reason that I live here, in spite of nature’s laws…

The longer I live and the more I see, the more I realize that life is temporary. Life being so temporary, we have to make the most of it if we are going to experience joy. 

Today’s struggle seems to be that of aspiring success. I will be happy when… but I am coming to learn that true success is living according to your God-given purpose. This is the key to happiness and fulfillment in life. Your God-given purpose has to do with your God-given gifts, talents and abilities whatever they may be and are to be used to help or bless others. One of my favorite scriptures 1 Peter 4:10 (TEV) says that "as a manager of God's perfect gifts, let us use for the benefit of others, the gift that God has given us."

Every person that enters your life is there for a purpose: either you are supposed to affect them, or they are supposed to affect you, or both (you affect them and they affect you).

When I think about my Aunt Carrie, she was the type of person who whenever you’d think about her, you had to smile. We associated her with laughter. If you talked to her on a given day, you could be sure she’d have you laughing before it’s over. I don’t ever recall her being sad or upset about anything.  I can still hear her laughing.  I never recall her being sick, either.  I'm almost certain it's because she laughed so much. 

She was easy to talk to. You could talk to her about anything. She became a mother to me in the absence of my own. If you ever launched any new endeavors, she would be there to cheer you on and monitor your progress. We associated her with encouragement.

She was the first person you’d hear from on any given holiday. I remember my birthday one particular year when she called.  It was the same year she passed away.  She was adamant about scheduling a time for me to come pick up my gift. It started out her wanting to send a gift to me, then she learned about my daughter’s birthday. We have a big family. By the time we finished talking we had a list of birthdays to celebrate so she decided to throw one big party.

I was always fascinated by her keen sense of detail. She called me to pick up a housewarming gift, (a nice set of cookware) and she remembered me telling her my daughter was having trouble finding a mop bucket to mop the floor. When I went to pick up my housewarming gift, she made sure to include a mop bucket along with my other gift. We associated her with giving.

Talking to her was like talking with the whole family in one setting. And that’s a good thing because in those settings you learn things like, Seth who was almost 2 years old likes to preach and he likes basketball, my cousin Cynthia likes antiques, or you might find out  that I needed help with my yard.  If it wasn't something she could help you with, she would put out a broadcast to make sure you got the help you need.

Did she have dreams? I am not sure because she didn't talk about them, but I do know that our dreams became her dreams. She wanted to see them happen. Did she have problems? I don't ever remember her talking about problems.  Her focus was on how she could always help someone else.

There was a period where our family lost several of our loved ones including my own mother. I think about how we always depended on Aunt Carrie to spread the news about various events in our lives. Her death was sudden . . . unexpected.  Then I think about how I wish sometimes I could call Mom and let her know what’s going on in my life now. And it hit me that Aunt Carrie can update everyone in heaven!

If there is one thing I can take from her life, it is that  she was always willing to give of herself, and she knew how to be happy no matter what.  We don't like to talk about death much.  It's okay to talk about it.  It is at these times you can reflect and ask God what can I take from this person's life and apply to my own?  I saw a sign that read: "What do you want people to say about you when you die?"  Then a little further down it read: "Then live that way."

by Rhonda Kay