Not Taking Life for Granted

For decades, I took my life for granted; my days, my body, my health, my loved ones and now I am so sorry because I had to pay for it in many ways but the pay-off turned out to be the blessing. Through this I have learned the most powerful lesson a person could learn, not to take life in any way for granted. In my self-centeredness, I was an idiot. I didn’t know some things and those I did, I ignored. I am now completely repentant.

This brought me to a gate through which I would not otherwise have gone, and for that I am more thankful than words can convey. Christ says it is a narrow gate; many are called but few will enter. “Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Mat 7:13 KJV. Therefore, I cannot want to trade this suffering. I must be here now, doing this, to get on through the gate. I am not suffering because of the things I did or didn’t do, I am suffering because to become truly free, we must be on our knees so to speak, we must be willing to go through the cleansing fire of purification as we exit the dark night. Hebrews speaks of this, “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions;” Heb 10:32. This tells us that after we have received the Spirit and awakened, we must get through a great battle. But I am learning; learning to, as is also said in Hebrews, run the race set before me with endurance. Heb 10:32. This endurance is teaching me, and strengthening in me, many things such as trust in the Lord, patience, and self-discipline as well as how to feel the joy rather than the pain.

It is a gigantic shift in perception and is part of the process of being made whole. Christ speaks of this saying, “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single (sound), thy whole body shall be full of light.” He goes on to say, “But if thine eye be evil (diseased), thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” Mat 6:21-22. I believe He is referring to perception and how we view things. If we are looking positively, the body will be filled with light, but if we are looking negatively (or worse), the body will be filled with darkness in which we cannot be whole or healed. It is through difficult circumstance that we are taught by the Spirit to perceive positively which then turns the negative into a positive and we are able to move forward. If we cannot perceive positively, we will remain in the darkness.

God promised the way out and shows us but does not force us to walk it, that part is up to us to keep moving forward step by step out of the darkness toward the light, moving ever closer to and through that narrow gate, no longer taking life for granted but appreciating each and every moment (easy or difficult) along the way.

About Cheryl Yale-Bruedigam

Cheryl Yale-Bruedigam has been writing spiritually for thirty years. With undergraduate studies in English and women's studies, she devoted over a decade of research and writing to women’s studies and spirituality. She is now teaching and sharing A Woman's Path to Wholeness Through Biblical Teachings.