I just left the hospital. My friends Dan & Heather just had their first child, Bjorn Daniel, yesterday evening. Holding a newborn baby never gets old for me. Bjorn wasn’t even 24 hours old yet and I was holding him and looking at his big old cheeks and giant sized baby hands. Babies are a reminder to me of the amazing gift of life. Life isn’t something we earn or achieve. None of us did anything to enter into this world. It just happened. The reality is that just as none of us have anything to do with our births, we can’t control our exit from this world either. We obviously can exercise, eat healthy, etc. to delay the inevitable but the most healthy person on this planet can’t control the potential accidents that are out of his/her control. Death will come calling at sometime or another. (There is a point to all of this I promise. I realize I created kind of the buzz kill going from writing about a new born baby to death). What I am trying to say is this – we can’t control our births or deaths but we can control what happens in between the start and finish. We can choose to live each moment of every day to the fullest. We can choose to live for the Kingdom of God instead of the Kingdom of Self. We can choose to set our minds to live for the things that will matter for all of eternity. We can choose to store up treasures in heaven. We can choose to live this life on earth for the purpose of hearing these words someday, “Well done…”

Every now and again I need this reminder…or better yet…slap in the face to get refocused, wake up, and get my head back in the game. Today that reminder came in the form of a tiny baby laying on my shoulder just content to be amongst the land of the living. So thanks little Bjorn. Thank you too God for giving me the gift of life. I’m ready once again to breathe deeply, set my eyes on You, and live like a man who is fully alive.