Let’s not wait any longer

For the past 2 years my mom has battled Bile Duct cancer.  She battled and hung in there, but unfortunately lost the battle and passed away over the weekend. It is devastating as she was still very young (68).  She was a beautiful woman, both outside and, more importantly, inside.

She had a saying, “Kindness Matters” that hung on one of the walls in her house. That is how she lived her life.  And that kindness stemmed from her love of Jesus Christ. Within hours of her passing, we heard story after story of my mom’s kindness, compassion and love.

A few months ago, a guy named Shawn passed away from cancer he was just diagnosed with 8 months prior.  I never really knew him or had much interaction with him after that but, a lot of my former students knew him and his family (one of my former students married Shawn’s sister and I was in that wedding).

After he passed away, there were a ton of people who share their stories of Shawn.  The nationally syndicated radio show, “the Sports Junkies” mentioned him and an experience one of them had with him.  Then there was the Washington Post article and USA Today article.  Then I saw MLS teams tweeting their condolences.  It was unreal how many people had great things to say about Shawn.  So many people were touched by him!

So, what am I getting at talking about the passing of my mom and Shawn?

Here’s what.

I am grateful that my family knew life was short with my mom so we let her know how much she was loved and how much she made an impact in our lives and others.  Every family member got to share with her along the way and I fully believe my mom knew before she passed just how loved she was.  I believe the same things about Shawn as well.

But, I also believe we wait until it’s too late to share with someone how we feel.  We wait til we don’t have any time left and then we say it after, therefore missing a great opportunity to share with them how they have impacted us.

Let’s not wait til someone passes away to share with them how much they have touched us.  Let’s not put it off.

Whether it is a family member, a teacher (or former teacher), a neighbor, friend or someone else, I want to encourage you to share with them TODAY how they have impacted and inspired you in your life.