The Fragileness of Life

(This video is about a mother who confronts life's fragileness, and the comfort a young man* gives her. )

Today, my husband dropped his large, heavy ladder on his head. Well, not exactly on his head. It just grazed his forehead and left a cut a couple of inches long, but if it had hit him more solidly, he would not still be with us. 

As I sit here watching my husband sawing branches off our pine tree as he stands on a tall ladder, recent memories come to my mind. Last Saturday, I found out that my son was assaulted by a man while he and his family were at our local mall. It turned out that the man was an armed fleeing murderer. The man ended up in jail, and my son with a titanium plate in his cheek bone. 


That same day, we got a call from my daughter saying that they were in the emergency room, because our little granddaughter had been hit very hard by a car door. Thankfully, both are now doing alright. 

Pictures begin flooding my mind: my husband after cancer surgery, our children's serious allergic reactions, my daughter's fall from a tree, a trailer almost pinning a son to a canyon wall, our baby nearly falling off a balcony. There are so many moments that could have ended their time on this earth.

But I haven't just been thinking of near tragic accidents. In June, I turned 69 years old. I am now older than my father, my mother-in-law, or my grandparents Crane were when they died. A sobering thought.

Am I overcome with fear of dying and of those I love dying?  Not really. I know that life is very fragile. We try to protect our family, but life happens. Each moment is to be cherished. Each problem, even the tragic ones, are an opportunity for growth. I know that I must do my best, then turn those I love over to the Lord to watch over.

How can I not worry? Actually, I can't, but I worry a lot less than I used to when I was an anxious young mother. Progress. Mainly I've coming to accept that I have only a very limited control over the things which  happen in my life and those I love. I can not protect my children from all harm. I don't have that power. 

What I can control, through the power of the atonement, is my final destination. I can choose to do good, to share love, to learn, and to create beauty. As I do so, I can have peace no matter what happens, and I know that I will have the opportunity to return to live with my Heavenly Father. If those I love also choose the good, then we can be together as a family- forever. 

These thoughts give me comfort as I uneasily watch my husband holding onto his ladder. Up he climbs with his chain saw, leaving me on the ground to contemplate the fragileness of life.  


video - https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/video/2010-05-11-until-we-meet-again?lang=eng

* The person telling this story is Thomas S. Monson who later became the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became a great man who was known for his tremendous compassion for others and especially for widows.