More from Lei Garcia-Bote

When I originally wrote my meditation, I said, “We cannot know what tomorrow will bring. Let us therefore dedicate today and every day to the Lord. We must live sensibly and with a purpose, yet do so one day at a time.”

At the time I wrote the meditation, I was coming from a heart of joy. My son was staying for the school break. It was a sweet moment seeing my son, who is evolving into a confident and a loving young man, trying to teach me a lesson about the brevity of life. Time is too short. Each moment is a gift from God. Therefore, we must value every minute the Lord is giving to us. We must not waste it spending time on things of no heavenly value. Instead, let’s invest the little time we have to honor God.

Months following my son’s visit, God once again brought up the lesson on the brevity of human life—this time, through the death of my father. He was rushed to the hospital one evening in July 2024. He was diagnosed with dementia, and his health was later compromised by complications of the kidneys. He stayed in the hospital for 21 days, and when he was finally sent home, he was bedridden and had a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube in his stomach for nutrition and medication. Just a quick three months later, my father passed away at age 82.

Although the death of my father was sudden and devastating, it opened a profound level of awareness for me to see life with a new perspective. We live and move only at the permission of God. In every life experience, coupled with either joy or grief, God has a good purpose. And because God is loving, sovereign, and righteous, we can trust that whatever happens, God is constantly coming from love and righteous judgement.

When life is going well, praise God! When things are getting difficult to handle, all the more trust God! Every painful experience is an invitation from God to deepen our faith and relationship with God. God wants us to seek him and be comforted by his loving kindness. God’s wisdom about human life must be learned, not only for the mind to understand but for the heart to move into loving actions for righteousness sake.

I miss my father every day. It is painful knowing that I will never be able to see and hug him again. But God is transforming my pain into a beautiful daily reminder to live my life honoring to God. Since the death of my father, the Lord is giving me opportunities to show compassion to people. It has been a joy seeing how God can turn an ordinary day into an extraordinary one just by sharing the good news with family and friends.

Every day is a gift. This is more clear to me now than ever. No matter what life circumstance is in front of me, if my focus is pleasing God, many things can be done. I urge you to take a moment to say I love you to family, call a friend, give a word of encouragement, or offer a prayer to someone. You can never be wrong investing your time by sharing the love of Jesus and the gospel of Christ to all.