R.I.P. Bernie Mac

Everybody knows by now that Bernie Mac passed away yesterday after fighting complications from pneumonia, and of course, following the shock of it all have been many condolences sent the family's way. What comes to mind for me though, in this situation, is that his death just serves as a reminder for the rest of us that we really have no idea what life has in store for us or when our time is going to be up. I know that can be depressing if you let it be, but I don't see it that way. I see this knowledge as liberating. Sometimes we get tricked into believing the lie that we don't have a beginning and ending here, so we squander a lot of time away dealing with frivolous or meaningless pursuits. We try to prolong our adolescence more and more (30 the new 20, lol) and we forget that each one of us was put here for a purpose. So, without knowledge of our purpose and understanding of our finiteness, our lives turn into a string of unconnected episodes, kinda like Seinfeld.

So each time death shakes us out of our comfort zone by taking someone unexpected, I mourn for the person and their family and pray for their comfort, but I also make a new resolution to make the most out of each day of my life. That doesn't mean I live every day like it's my last, because if you really think about it, that's crazy! If I was to take on that mentality, each day would be like Last Holiday, that Queen Latifah movie from a couple years back. What I'm going to do is live each day of this life working to fulfill my purpose. We've each got a purpose here and it won't wait on us...if we don't accept it, we won't receive it, and people we could/would have touched with our gifts won't be blessed by them. Bernie Mac dedicated his life to making people laugh. I've dedicated mine to living out the love that God has shown me. So, I know each day what my goal is for my beautiful struggle. What's yours?