Handle With Care

Yesterday, amidst a personal crisis, I received a call informing me that the daughter of a dear friend was in the hospital with meningitis. Elizabeth is a mere 2 weeks old and is battling for her life. I immediately thought of two things. The first being the reality of how precious and fragile life is. The second being how much we, as 'functional' members of society, do not value our lives.

Just two days before her diagnosis, I held Elizabeth in my arms. In awe at her beauty and scared to death that I would hurt her. Just four days after her birth, I held her for the first time. Amazed at this tiny creature who came from nothing but the love between a man and a woman and of course, the love of God. This small and beautiful child that I held had the power to bring many people to their knees to beg the Lord to help ease her pain. To strengthen her parents, Mike and Rose.

To see something so fragile become even more vulnerable was a slight jolt. It reminded me that all life is precious and should be handled with care. Yet, we choose to throw ours away. Whether it be with the abuse of drugs, alcohol, sex, or money. We take our lives for granted. We go, day to day, thinking that we are invincible. We put foreign chemicals of all sorts in to our bodies and do not realise the damage that we can do to ourselves or to those whom we love.

Our lives are not our own. We are given the gift of life from a being greater than any of us will ever be. So, in thanksgiving of this life that we are gifted with, should we not value it? Should we not try to do the best we can with what little time we have? If only we all came with a tag that read, 'Handle With Care'.

If a small child has the power to bring man to his knees in prayer, can that same child hold within her palm, the power to bring a family to healing? The power to wake us all up and face our realities rather than drowning them in vices of our choosing? I pray that it does.