Smile Because It Happened....

Today I was thinking about the summer.  We've already been to the beach and the summer has just begun and I want to go back.  I want to go back to the beach and the way we feel when we're "at the beach".  I want to go back to the time that Lynda was little and her presence was more than a memory. I want to go back but I can't.  None of us can really.

So it got me to thinking about how quickly life can change in a moment.  Sixty seconds can change a life and nothing will ever be just the same.  However, it works both ways;  good and bad.  Wonder why we only dwell on the ways that life changes in ways we don't prefer?  Every minute of every day God is making changes in our lives that we all too often just take for granted.  So it got me to thinking today---why can't we live every day like we're at the beach.  We still have the wonderful memories of the gentle waves coming in to the shore until the waves seem to be too full to move another inch and they explode and ricochet from one side to the other.  I love to watch the white froth spill over and the water rush to the shore.  Then as if by magic, the water is sucked back into the ocean and the white sand seems to dry as the wave returns to get ready for its next arrival.  I can hear it in my ears and I can feel the rumbles.  If I close my eyes, I'm there again.  The sounds of the birds and the squeals of the kids playing.  I can feel the warmth of the sun on my skin and in my mind, I'm there again.

I would love to live there every day and for five glorious years, we did live at the beach.  Earlier years with Lynda in Alabama we were just an hour and a half away from paradise.  Her hair was the color of the white sands of the emerald coast and the vastness of the ocean only intensified how small she was in comparison.  I think of her now and I try in my human mind to comprehend how much more wonderful heaven is than the most beautiful place I've seen on earth.

As the summer begins, I can't help but be reminded that it was this time last year that Lynda's health issues began with a blood clot in her leg and culminated with her death at the beginning of August.  However, Lynda's life was so much more than June to August of last year.  For all of the days and months and years that God shared Lynda with me, I am so thankful.  I can close my eyes and still hear her sweet voice.  I can feel her hand on my shoulder. 

When I think of Lynda, I have to smile.  When I think of heaven, I know it's not really over.