The Value of Life.

Today has caught me by surprise. Last night I received an email from my best friend who has been going through some really hard struggles of her own. Then I get into work wearing my Christmas colors because today was the day we get the Christmas Tree out, only to discover that a colleague and friend passed away. At first, both these events were bearable until they both sunk in… together.

After a very emotional meeting at work I came back to my desk and wrote an email to my best friend. As I was writing I was fighting back tears and emotions that were trying to force their way through my heart and tear ducts. Anyway, this blog post has most of the email I sent to my best friend but it is mostly about the value of life regardless of the trials within it.

---

In the context of what you're going through, you need to value three things in the order I am about to tell you, we'll talk mostly about the first two. (1) God (2) Yourself. Everyone else comes later (3). 

(1) God - When I was younger I contemplated suicide but quickly banished the thought from my mind. Although life is hard as hell and the in between and everything else, life is above all a precious gift from God. No one, not even you have the right to take life away from yourself or anyone else, no matter how hard the journey is. Only what God has given can HE take away from you. 

(2) Yourself - I don't mean this in a prideful manner but rather we should remember that we have value. That even though sometimes we cannot fully 100% love ourselves as God does but maybe we can feel a fraction of that love for ourselves. As the saying goes, God doesn't make junk. YOU matter to him! So love yourself. Be it 99%, 85%, 63%, 53%, 40%, 32%, 23%, 16%, or .03733%?

I don't believe we truly understand the life that we live. I know that life hurts and is painful. Life is life whether you're in a concentration camp, in a mansion, on the street, or at home. I KNOW that it is hard, I really do. I know that sometimes we feel that we spend more of our lives crying than laughing. I know that we feel we spend more time THINKING about life rather than LIVING it. But I also know that that knowledge has always made me happy. When I cried until I could cry no more I realized that I was still alive. I still had a beating heart. That regardless of the things I was going through I knew that Heavenly Father had a greater purpose for me. As long as there is breath within this body of mine I know that I cannot EVER take life for granted even though I complain about it a lot. God has made us conquerers and sometimes the best thing you can do is keep moving forward. One foot in front of the other. One day at a time.

Your (Best Friend's) email, coupled with Lui's death has hit me hard especially at the time of the Year that we are grateful for the birth and life of Christ. 

CHRISTMAS!

"Tough" is an understatement about the description of the life that Christ would live, but He chose to live it anyway. Once He was actually living this mortal life I am sure there were times that he, for a split second, considered taking His life. As a baby he was sought after to be destroyed, later he was tempted  by the devil after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights (Matthew 4), made fun of, left by his friends (Isaiah 6:3,5), denied by his head disciple (Matthew 26), mocked, beaten, bled from every pore of his body (Mosiah 3:7), and all manner of afflictions that cannot be listed. Yet He knew that as long as breath still flowed within Him, He had a mission to complete. He loved (1) God, His Father, and followed His will. He loved (2) himself because He knew He was of value and had a purpose. That purpose was to save (3) all others. 

Can you imagine the calamity that would follow if He gave up His life before it was time? We would be angels to a devil (2 Nephi 9:9). Your mother and father would be angels to a devil. Your children would be in bondage to the adversary. The bondage that the Nephites faced under the Lamanites, or the Israelites under the Egyptians would be nothing compared to the bondage of angels unto a devil. 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate blessing - His love, birth, life, atonement, death, and gospel. 

But, we cannot be truly grateful for His blessings if we do not live a life that emulates His. 

The prophet said it best: 

 

Do not take this life for granted, death could be just around the corner. So live and choose life centered in Christ even though death, for some, would be a less painful option.