The Race We Run

Amid all the chaffs of light that fill my mind's eye, I gaze into times long past, simultaneously aware of the now.  Within the memories there dances past the faces and places, and times well known and so very remembered.  The laughter pours out and overflows to drip upon a collage of sentiments and years of memories of the times so precious with smiles...smiles that come so easily, and mean so much.  I find myself fascinated--- unable to look away, as through a looking glass I see those times and places that I carry deep in my heart as though they were yesterday...it is a wonderment to me to watch as the faces and memories focus..so beautiful to see, then to change to yet another..and another and another---all such precious moments.  In these moments I lose myself as often most will do.  Running back through the memories to days that were easy, sunfilled, and cherished.  The people that loved us, taught us, cared for us...those special faces that smile back from memories past...you long to see them, and aren't even aware of the smile that comes to your face as you allow your self the time to remember.  It brings back the whys and the hows of who we are and what we learned and why we do what we do...and sometimes, it just highlights how much quieter our lives have become with out those special people and there unique ways, the sound of their laughter and how their eyes twinkled, and their voices that now only speak over time remembered.

But from deep down you know that now you must shine and you must be the light in the lives of those you love...the laughter you share, and the smiles you give, and all of your love...that is what one day those you love will remember...one day it will be the very thing that helps someone smile...remembering you..what you said, what you did, how you laughed, the way you smiled.

In God we are all promised a future in Christ, and one day there will be reunions so heartfelt, so needed, so much merriment will flow and there will be joy unspeakable...and filled with God's Glory.  For we are on our way to that reunion...and those who have already arrived, well, they are waiting.  I imagine my own parents saying, "The kids will be here soon."  For in eternity there is no time...no minutes, no seconds. 

So in taking time to remember, let us not forget, the baton has been passed on to us, and we must arise to the occasion and make that difference in the lives of those we love just as those who have not only impacted our lives with love, beauty, joy, and smiles...but with encouragement that YES! we can go the distance, and we can excel no matter the economy, the times, or the pressures of life, for we have been raised to not only be survivors, but to excell in life by doing what is right in the eyes of God.

Louise Alberto McAtee

http://www.outskirtspress.com/whenthatdaycomes