Dead at 57.

This morning I was writing a children’s book and adding a chapter to it. In this book I went back 30, 40 even 50 years digging out the memory that fit the circumstance I was working on. (Why waste a good memory?)

My main character was looking at an old picture. (Here he was in 1882 and seeing a picture from the 1970s…) I thought who might be the person?

I came to a conclusion. While I was writing, I thought, why not see where they are at. The third entry on my search was their obituary. 57 years old. Cancer.

Being 60 this is not my first run at sadness or shock.

I sat there for a moment and remembered our first meeting. The details were as if it was yesterday. As I looked at the picture I saw the person when they 19, full of life.

Each of us has a path, a journey. A place we are coming from and a place we are going to.

2016 is a year of potential. Or a year of the same. Or even a year of floundering and sadness.

My old friend. I am not sure what their journey was like. The obituary was but a painting of a life lived. Few details. Children, no spouse and a couple of friends who wrote their expressions of sadness.

I don’t know their life after I moved to a new state.

You and I, well we have a lot to do with our painting.

In a day where people put more thought into getting a drivers license than a marriage license, people often devote themselves to what they want rather than what may well be best for them. Conversations may well be about “hopes and dreams” but but when push comes to shove, what are they doing?

Many await God while He is awaiting them. (I am not talking about salvation, but about seeing change occur in one’s life.)

What is your plan? Do you have steps to your plan? (Because usually if you have no steps, you have no plan.)What have you changed today to move you towards the finished plan?

I find that if you have a plan, life is a little easier. (Just like if you have a budget you find you have more money and less stress. People make 2016 the year of your budget!!!)

Many years ago I would meet in a restaurant with friends on a weekly basis. The owner was very old man. Each week he saw me set down to have coffee with friends. And as I sat he would approach tables (including ours)with the same questions. “Do you want to get ahead? How many hours do you work? How many hours do you sleep? What are you doing with the other 70 hours?”

It is a real group of questions.

2016 can be better or worse than 2015. In the end a lot will depend on what you and I want to see it shaped into.