Life is a Gift

I was sitting in my office the other day and a woman came in, and she was telling us that just the night before her house had burned down with her in it! She was a little shaken, she had literally just come from the hospital from being treated for carbonmonoxide posioning. But she was also very calm...too calm, I thought for someone who had just lost everything. Then she said this: that everything in her house had burned EXCEPT for her little saint statues and crucifixes. Someone was watching over her... She explained that she was very out of it while she was in the house and not really knowing what was happening but she started to pray for the intercession of St. Michael and that she was so blessed because she had been saved. This made me stop and think, here I was thinking how horrible it was that she had lost everything...but I had forgotten that the most important thing/person had been saved. HER! What a miracle! The reason why she was so calm was because she knew that God had spared her...she very easily could have died that night. But God knew that she still has work to do on this earth, His work. What a gift I was given that day too! I was reminded that things are simply that: THINGS...but life, ah life, that is the real gift! Clothes can be re-bought, books, furniture, things...you can get replacements. But life, that doesn't get replaced. Are you living your life for the right reasons? Are you cherishing the gift that Christ gives you everyday? Live your life with purpose!