October 5, 2006
I recently spent a Sunday afternoon with my mother at her nursing home, where she has been for the last five years (she has Alzheimer’s disease). It was a particularly warm day, so we spent most of the afternoon sitting outside in a courtyard area enjoying the sunshine. Since it was such a nice day we were accompanied by many other people who had the same idea.
Most of the other people were elderly and struggling with different diseases and sicknesses. Some were in wheelchairs, some had walkers, and some just sat in their chairs looking off into the sky. As I sat there, I tried to imagine the history of all these people.
There was a time when they were young, when they had jobs, when they had children, when they bought their first house, when their first relative died, when their first grandchild was born and when everything around them was exciting and fresh. Surely, there was more, much more than I would ever know.
I realized that if these people had any regrets, I would hesitate to think it would be over things like: I wish I would have bought a bigger house, I wish I would have made more money, I wish my children would have done what I wanted them to do. Instead, if they had any regrets, I thought it may be something like: I wish I would have told my son or daughter that I loved them more often, I wish I would not have worked so much, I wish I would have thanked God more for all the blessings He gave me during my life.
Life is short. What really matters?
We must work, we must eat, we must rest, we must exercise, we must have a social life, and there are many other things we must do. However, I wonder if at the end of our lives we will really regret not being able to achieve everything we wanted to in these areas. I am convinced that if we will regret anything, it will be not loving and serving God as much as we could, and not loving and serving those who He has placed in our lives, especially those in our families. Let us have no regrets and make a decision today to live for what really matters.
Br. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR
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