Recently, our good friends, Jim and Ailyn, celebrated a milestone in their lives! Their Facebook post recounted that day’s events, with details that catapulted you to that very moment when Jim suffered a Ventricular Fibrillation outside the hospital, and survived it, thanks to Ailyn’s quick thinking and the family’s fast response to the emergency. In Ailyn’s words:
The doctors were amazed that he survived Ventricular Fibrillation outside the hospital. They were amazed he had no neurological deficits. We were amazed that the best Interventional Cardiologist and Intensivists were working the day of his arrest. We were amazed that it happened in the middle of our 3 week staycation because of COVID–we would have been in the outskirts of Croatia that day, no 911, in the middle of nowhere! We were amazed that Jim, that day, decided to lay back down that morning after using the bathroom, instead of going downstairs to work on his computer–he would have arrested downstairs, alone. We were amazed that his $129K hospital bill ended up only as a $70 copay. But we are not really amazed, we know this is all God. God reigns sovereign and supreme and in all this deserves all the honor, glory and praise! This is one of the highest Ebenezer stones our family has raised in honor of our faithful God!!
Ailyn’s Facebook post on July 15
Our friends’ milestone caused me to start thinking about how fleeting life is and evaluating life’s priorities!
The Dreamstone
In the latest Wonder Woman sequel—Wonder Woman 1984–Diana Prince/Wonder Woman battles two things: the Dreamstone, an ancient citrine artifact with powers to grant the wish of anyone who touches it, AND the after-effects of people’s wishes. What everyone, including Diana, later realizes is that there’s a catch to wishes being granted—these have consequences called “The Monkey’s Paw”!
In the movie, the rise and fall of the Roman-, Carthaginian-, Kushan-, and Mayan-civilizations are attributed to the Dreamstone! It seemed that what initially was a “simple request” to change a person’s current state or plight, actually opened up more desires for other things that weren’t originally thought of–one request was not enough!! And each time a person wished for something new, due to insatiable greed, a snowball effect was in the making, ultimately ending in a person’s destruction of himself/herself and everything important to him/her.
(If you want to read more about “The Monkey’s Paw“, it is a short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in 1902 in the collection The Lady of the Barge.)
Reality Check
I read this quote before:
Another pastor explained that most people, at their death bed, regretted not spending more time with their family, and strengthening their relationships with others. The above quote from John Maxwell and the pastor’s explanation made me wonder–if this was the truth, why then do we pursue the wrong priorities in life?
Introspection
Three questions I asked myself following this realization:
What is my end goal?
When all is said and done, how do I truly want to be remembered? Do I want to remembered as someone who had everything this world had to offer–fame, riches, and power? Or do I want to be remembered as someone who loved God, loved his family, and loved others? I remember a pastor challenging us in one of his sermons to write one’s obituary now, taking note of how one wanted to be remembered. That way, it would force one to look at priorities now, and start working to that end goal, when one’s time here on earth ends.
How do I get there?
This is an exercise in plotting the “best route” to get to that end goal, given what we know now. Just like a GPS, this forces one to write down the milestones leading towards the desired end goal, identifying the decisions to be made, and the steps to take. Of course, one cannot be guaranteed that everything planned happens the way it was dreamed to be. Life does nothing of that sort. Having this map helps keep us focused, on-track, and determined until the end-goal.
What changes do I have to make now?
This is probably the hardest question to answer, given that this entails making tough decisions and sifting through everything that life brings. Believe me! I know very well the “tyranny of the urgent”, being a project manager. But as we see and hear from those athletes competing in the Tokyo 2020 games, these olympians made tough decisions along the way! Each story I’ve heard centered on the athlete’s need to give up the “good” things in exchange for the “best” things, so that he/she could win the gold medal! The same is true with one’s desired end goal in life. We will need to let go of things that do not help us achieve the end goal, no matter how good these things are. The question to ask from this point onwards is: “Does this help me get closer to my end goal?”
Wherever you might be on this journey we call life, I hope you are clear about what you want to accomplish in life, about how you want to be remembered, and are living life excellently. Life is fleeting! Let’s not waste a single moment pursuing the wrong things.
I have my end goal na..working on the remaining two questions.😁
And your friend’s firm faith and bold declarion on God’s soveriegn power is really amazing and I hope it encourages people to not be ashamed to tell others how the Lord has been faithful in their lives and that He is real.
That’s good! You were always the achiever, dear Sissy! Maybe I can learn from you. And indeed, the testimony needs to be shared!