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My younger brother Doug and I were on our twice-weekly phone call last night, and the subject of dad’s death came up. Mainly because my little brother reminded me of my recent 59th birthday and remarked I’m now the same age dad was when he died.
 
Thanks for keeping the conversation light, bro.
 
But sometimes there’s nothing like the mention of death to focus your mind on life. After the call, I reflected more on the conversation: Not about death, but about how good living is and how good life is. It wasn’t hard: All I had to do is take a cup-half-full look around to see and enjoy the life God has created and surrounded us with:

  • I talked to a co-worker yesterday about her excitement over her newborn girl.
  • My youngest son and I had dinner out Tuesday to celebrate his new job.
  • I spent time on the phone this evening with my mother, who is experiencing health issues and dementia but brings joy to my life through her storytelling.
  • My wife just brought me a Sonic® cherry limeade.
  • And, as I’m writing this, there’s a squirrel sunning on the fence. He’s cute now. This summer when he tears into my figs we’ll be mortal enemies. Again.

Maybe I’m low-maintenance. I like looking for life in the simple things. Yet life isn’t. We aren’t. When God created us, he created something so complex it was nothing short of a miracle. As we read in Psalm 139:14-16 (New Living Translation):

"Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!

Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,

as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.

Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out

before a single day had passed."

As the passage tells us, in Gods’ eyes, life is precious and everyone has value. Life’s good! Life’s sacred, as God designed it. I’ve been blessed to walk alongside a ministry that believes life is sacred; one that values the lives of all humans, whether they’re children, adults or senior adults and sees their worth through God’s eyes.

Not everyone gets it, of course. Life is de-valued everywhere. Life could be better for millions of children who are helpless because they are unwanted, unloved, unfed or uncared for. Thank God for Buckner, which celebrates the goodness of life in God’s eyes, appreciates the complexity and workmanship he uses to form everyone, and seeks to lift people up to be who God intended them to be. 

National Sanctity of Human Life Day is today. It’s about quality of life and dignity for all ages, whether that life is a newborn or an elder, whether weak or powerful, whether able or defenseless. Remember to look around and see the miracle that is life, and thank God for his gift.

You can change the life of a vulnerable child or family in your own community. Check out our Volunteer Central and see all the ways you can make a difference to a child or family in need.

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