My Pastor has a saying,
"God will forgive you, but the laws of nature may not." In other words, while God has promised to offer you forgiveness for whatever sin you may have committed, the self-abuse of your body is at the mercy of nature itself...
...And she is a vicious Mistress.
As this holiday of remembrance and reflection moves into full swing, I am reminded of the one man who fits this bill more than any.
My father.
As a child, my first memories of my father were of a man who seemed very old and very ill. Cardiovascular disease had started it's erosive process, and to my dismay, my father made no attempts to thwart it. If anything, he assisted in his own drawn out demise. The Dr. said "Lose weight." Dad said "I'll eat what I want." The Dr. warned, "If you continue smoking, it's going to kill you." Dad said "A man's gotta die of something." The Dr. said, "Get some exercise!" Dad said "I can't breath now."
And on and on and on.....
Slowly, but surely, I could see not only battles being lost, but the war as well. A heart attack here, a stroke there, blood clots cropping up in various limbs. Speech slowing, gait becoming more unsteady, and yet the bad habits continued.
No amount of begging, pleading, or cajoling could stop him from his self-destruction, or from his suicidal tendency. He was more in love with his murderers than he was with anyone in his family.
I can still recall the moment when the gravity of the situation hit me right between the eyes. My sister was contemplating marriage, and I asked my father if he could give her away without crying. He assured me he could. Then I asked him if he was going to give me away when I married the man of my dreams. He took a drag off is camel stud and shook his head. I teased him by saying "What? You're not going to let me go?" Without looking at me, he simply said "I'll be dead by the time you marry."
He was an honest man at least.
My father was dead by the time I married. He was dead before I went to the prom, before I got my license, before I learned how to drive, even before I entered high school.
Gone. Fini. Dead.
Today I challenge each one of you to take a long look at yourself, your life, and the decisions you are making that will impact not only your future, but the future of those you love, and those who love you.
Step back and ask yourself if you want to be a memory, or make one.
