Merely Mortal

This past Thursday driving home from work I received disturbing health news on two fronts. The first, a stroke suffered by the father of a church member. The second, the sudden death of a former teacher.

The stroke occurred after what appeared to be a successful hip replacement surgery. Whenever an aging man goes under the knife, there is some risk. But you expect that after a surgery that by all appearances has gone well, you are out of the woods. It reminded me of the many times that my grandpa, now in his mid-80s, has had surgery in the last 10 years to fix a variety of pains. Any one of those times he could have not woken up. To our good fortune, he always has.

It was from a radio report that I heard about the second item. My former high school band director was apparantly vacationing with his wife at Yellowstone when he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 58, and just beginning to enjoy his retirement years after a long career in the classroom. Judging by outward appearance, he was in fine health. My dad and this man are the same age, graduating together in the same Jefferson High School class of '65. Those of you that live in Cedar Rapids ... I have submitted an article for publication in Thursday's Cedar Rapids Gazette. If it is not used in the paper, I will post it here later this week.

In my line of work as a financial services professional with New York Life, I often encourage people to plan for the future, whatever it may hold. Plan for the best, plan for the unexpected, and pray that the latter plan does not have to be implemented.

But as we plan for the tomorrows, we should also make the most of today. Today is all that we are guaranteed. How will we make it count? Will what we do count for eternity, or will it become meaningless with time?

Both of these instances are reminders that our earthly days are numbered, and most of us don't have a clue about when the last one will be. We are merely mortal.