Some sudden, sobering facts to face

A “life to live! We all want to do our best with it. We all want to make the most of it,” wrote one earnest searching person. “The question is not how much time have we?—for in each day each of us has exactly the same amount: we have ‘all there is.’ The question is, What shall we do with it? … What is worth while?”¹ A life to live—with days that pass so swiftly—sometimes carelessly, indifferently; sometimes without much apparent purpose. We struggle. We set our hearts on things we think we want. We rush around, sometimes in somewhat shallow circles, in repetitious routine, not always thinking what matters most. And then something happens—some crisis, some accident or illness—some hurt or harm to us or someone near or known to us, something serious and sobering: something beyond ourselves—beyond our little wisdom, beyond our own ability to alter; some sudden, sobering fact to face that makes us know what matters most, as life and loved ones, home and health and happiness take on new meaning and make some things much less important than we thought they were. Oh, the frightening, helpless feelings that sometimes are so hard to face and bring us pleading to our knees, and to a searching of our souls, with a sharp and sudden sense of what it is that is most precious, irreplaceable: home, health; life, loved ones; work, purpose; quietness of conscience. How better can a life be lived? And who would be so foolish as to fail to know of his dependence upon Providence! Respect life; cherish loved ones. Pray, work, be clean and comfortable with conscience, and humbly learn how much need there is for help from higher sources, and live to know what is worthwhile, what matters most. This is the lesson that is there to learn when there are sudden, sobering facts to face.