Why do we fill our days with endless activities? — of pushing ahead, climbing the ladder, etc. Life is about relationships….a vertical relationship with the Creator and horizontal relationship with other humans (our family, our friends, our neighbors, our co-workers, etc). As I look at someone like Sara Western Garavaglia who only had a little time on this earth, it forces me to evaluate “What am I doing?”, “Where am I spending my time”, and “What things am I doing that have any significance?” — I call the latter my sigificance meter……

If I honestly evaluate, I realize how much life I get out of spending time in relationship with others and how dead parts of my life are because of inane things I fill my time up with. I want to do things that have significance — things that matter……how about you?

Yesterday, a old friend Sara Western Garavaglia, who I admired for her worshipful life and her beautiful singing voice, passed away, having just past her her forty-first birthday. She was one of my alltime favorite worship singers, who could reach way into her soul as she sang songs of praise to God. Wrought by cancer, she persevered and praised God until the end, bolstering my faith by hearing of hers.

As I meander merrily through life, I find myself many days lost in the day-to-day living — in the busy-ness of life, then am brought back to the sobering truth — this will not last forever……..I wrack my brain as I think of all the value, friendship, gladness, and life that Sara has brought to others while “doing life” and I am deeply saddened by her death. Yet I know that she is in a much, much better place, a place we all yearn for, yet keep at arms length.

(I am forced to leave this reflective time to visit with some dear folks in from out of town — more busy-ness in my life…………..Part 2 later).