Figuring Out "What's Really Important"

For quite some time now I have come to a realization I have been blind to many things.  Blind meaning many important things just never got to the conscious part of my mind, or I suppressed them so well I didn't even realize they existed. I'm working hard to correct that personal flaw.  It's likely the underlying cause for much of the suffering I have put others and myself through over the years, honestly, quite unintentionally.

Most recently I have been following the story of a young man named Mitchell Dee Jones on a Facebook page maintained by his parents. Mitchell was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a catastrophic muscle wasting disease which results in progressive muscle deterioration and is fatal by late teens/early twenties, however, Mitchell passed away a month before his 11th birthday.

I can not fathom the strength his parents have.  My God is certainly looking over them and has sent them to this earth on an incredible mission I am barely getting an understanding and glimpse of.  God, please give me strength just thinking about this.

So what am I figuring out?  I'm figuring out, that although I think I may have done a lot of good in my life, I've also made horrible mistakes that have me in such torment and at a loss for what to do...  I dream of forgiveness, love, compassion and help.  I wish that years ago I had looked at or understood things differently.

Today, I am encouraging you to take a deep look at what is important...  if you can't figure it out, find a great mentor to help you.  Don't wait until your life has passed and you find yourself so deep there is no turning back...  no way to recover...  no one to help.

I hope this is not taken wrong, it is not meant selfishly...  I don't have the strength, faith or understanding to be like Mitchell's parents, but in many ways, I feel the same as they do.  I have lost my family, I have lost respect, I have lost the wonderful things I was given and let them slip away.

Cherish all those you have in your life....  it is too short not to.