Live!

Recently my family and I visited the Wiminouch Wilderness.  We could see Pole Mountain behind us and the head waters of the Rio Grande before us.  I met a precious woman. She was in her 70s and she was staying in the same place we stayed.  She had visited the wilderness since 1983 on an annual basis with her husband.  As we looked around she began to point out mountain peaks that we should climb, all of them over 13,000 feet.  She shared with us that she had climbed the tallest one 10 times and her husband had been proud to say he had done it 13 times and the last time he climbed it, he was in his early 70s!  The more she talked, I knew that her husband was now gone.  She spoke of him with at sparkle in her eye and a hint of sadness in her voice.  She did finally tell us that he had passed away 3 years ago, but she continues to come here each year.  She had summitted that peak one more time in his honor, to place a memorial stone on the summit engraved with the words, “he communioned here with God.”  And as we parted ways, she was on her way to hike down to the head waters at dusk.  As we walked on our way, I was so impressed with her zeal for life, that they had lived and they had no regrets.
 
May we all pray that we would live…I mean really live and that we would have no regrets.  Our God is a God of adventure and our time with Him is a thrill.  I am praying that as we enter our 70s, we will have squeezed every ounce out of this life as an offering to our God…and have done it with a smile on our faces!