Lesson 3: What Really Matters

It’s no secret that losing someone close to you will make you reexamine what really matters in life.  When you were killed, I was at camp. I had stayed up late working on videos for my internship, and I was stressed. I was constantly worrying about whether I was going to get all of my work done in time, whether I was doing a good job balancing my other duties… everything you always told me not to stress about.

I couldn’t fall asleep that night. At 12:30am, my directors came into the room and told me that I needed to come with her. One short phone call with my mom later, I was making plans to come home. And suddenly, everything I was stressing about didn’t matter.

What mattered was being with my family. The family I was still blessed to have. Comforting them. Letting them comfort me. And that was the first lesson from you – refocus. What matters? Some project that I won’t even remember a year from now, or being close to family? Stressing about the next step in my career, or remembering that as long as I work hard and leave it in God’s hands I’ll be okay?

That’s why I moved home. As a soon-to-be-graduate of the University of North Texas, I had been focusing all my energy on making the PERFECT next career move. Where to go for my internship. Where to move after that. But your passing reminded me that I won’t always have the people I care about. I have to spend time with them while I can.

“Two are better than one… for if they fall, one will lift up the other.”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

And now that I’ve been given the opportunity to focus on what REALLY matters, I can’t pass that up.

Love, Bubba