I saw a hawk on my run yesterday and it reminded me of another hawk I saw years ago.
We had just visited Spanky’s uncle in the hospital. He was dying of cancer. He only learned that he had this invasive predator living in his body a few months prior. As we drove home from saying our final goodbyes at the hospital, I stared out the window at the yellow, grassy fields of Eastern Washington. Just as I was gazing off, a hawk swooped down snatching a small mouse or shrew from the ground. Just like that, the breath left its body.
I couldn’t help but think then about how short life really is.
I was reminded of that hawk and its seemingly cruel lesson a few days ago when we learned that a friend of ours in Alaska had passed away after a month-long battle with COVID. Though Spank and I only met the man, Val, and his sweet family a few times, that’s all it takes with the folks in Alaska. Many of the friends we have made up there are not just friends—they are immediate family willing to care for you, share with you and do anything to help at a moment’s notice. Not to mention, Val and Spank shared the bond and brotherhood of both being linemen.
As I reflect on this sudden loss, a word comes to mind; it’s the same word that flashed in my brain during my recent Bible study on Revelations. Urgency.
I think of a lyric from one of my favorite Mumford & Sons songs:
“I will love with urgency, but not with haste.”
Think about that. Really think about that and let it sink in. We live in this fast-paced world where it’s go, go, go. That’s not urgency. That’s haste.
I’m a word girl so I looked up both definitions. Haste is about “excessive speed or urgency of movement or action; hurry,” while urgency is “importance requiring swift action” or “an earnest and persistent quality; insistence.”
So, we are not to be in a hurry with our love or our lives, but instead, we are to be persistent and live lives of action. We are to live love in action. We are to live lives of purpose and to do it today because, as the hawk reminds us, tomorrow can be swiftly snatched away.
“Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” James 4:14
This is not all I have to say. What also weighs heavy on my heart is the intense desire to see my friends and family in heaven. If you don’t know whether your name is written in heaven, please talk to me because I love you and I really want to celebrate with you when I get there. As always, I don’t say this to be pushy, but I say it in love in the hopes that you will share the same eternal hope that I do. This broken earth full of disease and death ain’t all there is (thank goodness!)
Lastly, if you feel compelled, please help Val’s family pay for their medical expenses and other expenses to come by donating to the GoFundMe account set up for them. Thank you so much for loving generously!