One day my heart will stop beating.
One day my lungs will stop pumping air.
One day my body will stop working and will go back to the dust from whence it came.
Reality is, One day I will not be on this side.
Trust me, this is a reality that I would rather not talk about today but yet, here I am. Last week Tuesday I did something that I try not to Do- I logged onto Facebook as I was getting ready for work. One scroll in and I saw that a dear classmate of mine had passed away the night before. Celeste Regina Williams had a heart like none other and she loved her family, her students, and writing. Absolutely beautiful and absolutely brilliant. And today marks one week since her “one day.”
As I sit in this place of ____, I reflect on my years of friendship with Celeste. I intentionally left that word blank because I don’t know where I am right now. The Christian side of me knows that she is resting with our ABBA, but the human side of me misses her heart. She was only one year older than me so her death reminds me of the fragility of life.
10:36 pm
That was the moment that she went home to glory.
I think I was talking to my guy about something that now seems so irrelevant. Whatever we were discussing in that exact moment was not as important as what was happening in Baltimore City at 10:36 pm. My dear friend was breathing her last. While I am still struggling to come to grips with what happened, I am realizing that every moment that we breathe, is a moment when someone else is breathing their last. It’s so sobering and humbling to think, but it is also so true. Whether we know that person or not, it is estimated that 1.8 people die every second (world average) so we can safely say that one breath for us is the last for another. And then it became really real for me.
I promise you that this post was not intended to be sad and depressing. Quite the opposite, actually. I want you to read this post and understand and appreciate the value of every second. One thing that Celeste did with her short 35 years on this earth is live every moment to its fullest. She was a wife, daughter, role model, teacher, mentor, author/writer, student, and soon-to-be charter school Headmaster. Celeste had dreams well beyond our conversations. She dreamt in color and lived in those dreams. She had no limitations and refused to allow the children of the future to think that they had limitations, either. She knew the truth, that one day she would not be here on this side, but that her work and labor needed to still be bearing fruit. She knew of her one day.
Beloved, as you press through this first Monday in November, the day before election day (Did you vote yet? Click here for more information on voting in your state), and day 307 of this arduous year called 2020, I challenge you to think of your very own one day. Hear me, don’t think of it negatively or sadly, but think of the legacy that you want to leave behind. Financial security for those after us is so important, but so is spiritual security. Where would we be right now if our ancestors had not left legacies of strength and scripture behind for us?
So what is your legacy, dear friend? What are you leaving behind after your “one day”? Plan for that one day but begin today with the fundamental steps of legacy building.
Lovingly- the day to start, the day to begin, is today. Today is your one day.
Be blessed.
God Happened To ME Ministries, LLC 