Suffering, failure, loneliness, sorrow, discouragement, and death will be part of your journey, but the Kingdom of God will conquer all these horrors. No evil can resist grace forever. Brennan Manning
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/god

It was early 1990’s when I received a phone call about a cousin of mine falling from scaffolding on his farm and died as a result from that fall.

I attended the funeral for him it was difficult because he was only two years older.  They sang about three hymns that were his favorite when he would attend church services there with him mom, wife, and children.  I remember only one thing that the Pastor said it sticks with me even to this day. The first sentence of the eulogy was this, “Life is not fair!”.

Over the past several months I have been mentally going through my mind of all the things that have brought me sorrow, pain, grief, and yes, regret.

I am not a husky type guy, have always been on the slim side and not much muslce definition. For as long as I can remember I have had mishap, pain and grief dog me.  At around the age of ten I fell from a tree and broke my arm in three different places.  Almost a year later before I finally was healed enough for the cast to be removed while playing baseball at school broke the opposite arm and the wrist.  Needless to say my mother was not amused.

I experienced great grief of the passing of my maternal grandfather in 1975 as a teenager of thirteen years old.  My grandfather was fifty-seven.  As I have shared already my mom passed away in 2000 also at the age of fify-seven.  Four years later my precious grandmother.

Pain in my body is no stranger.  I am not strong when it comes to pain for I have a low tolerance towards it.

Some would look at my life and would feel sorrow or pity for me.  I do not look at it that way.  Through all those things I have glean lessons about life and they are benefit to me.  I do not ask the one question that most would, that is, “why me?”.

I find myself filled with a greater gratitude for things, even the smallest the ones most would over look.  I now believe the answer to prayers about my body and health have been through the doctors that have brought treatment and pain relief to my body.  

Through all those things one thing they have taught me to do is, laugh.  Sometimes I take myself too seriously.  I cannot change yesterday, I have some control today, but, I have no knowledge what tomorrow may bring.

Read what the writer of Ecclesiastes penned about the cycle of life: 

Ecc 3:1-8 MSG
1  There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
2  A right time for birth and another for death, A right time to plant and another to reap,
3  A right time to kill and another to heal, A right time to destroy and another to construct,
4  A right time to cry and another to laugh, A right time to lament and another to cheer,
5  A right time to make love and another to abstain, A right time to embrace and another to part,
6  A right time to search and another to count your losses, A right time to hold on and another to let go,
7  A right time to rip out and another to mend, A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
8  A right time to love and another to hate, A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

No matter what we face each day, the temptation to give up life one thing is for certain, life goes on!