the bunny rabbit vs the turtle

I received an email today from my friend Michael Baumgart in response to yesterday's post.  I was very moved by it, and felt compelled to share it.  Michael, who is in his 30's, has a serious heart condition, has had congestive heart failure several times, and is currently waiting for an operation to hopefully stabilze his heart, save his life, and enable him to live a normal life.  The surgery was supposed to happen today, but was rescheduled at the last minute. 

Michael's faith and insight are incredibly inspiring to me.  I am grateful for his example and his trust in God.  I needed this reminder of how fragile life really is, and how much I have to be grateful for every day.  I hope this helps you as much as it helped me. 

Note: Michael is from Germany, and I edited his words to make them more readable to this audience.  Hopefully, I am faithfully conveying his message.  I'm sure you can get the spirit of what he is communicating.  When I asked if I could edit and reprint this, he said "my english may not be the best, but than so what after all I am a foreigner."  How great is that???

Hello Jay,

I enjoyed reading your blog, and it is so very relatable.

One thing which changed my approach over the years is my heart condition.  It forced me to deal with things in the immediate and instantly, rather than procrastinating.  As we know, nobody knows the hour we are called back to him. Only God knows, he created us and he will take us back.  And still most of our lives we are living as if we can live forever. ...

Through my four hospitalizations, and staring potential death four times in the face, it changed my outlook on life.  It forced me to review what truly matters in life to me and for my family.  I had to admit painfully that I had many of my priorities misdirected, even though I had good intentions.  

God slowed me down and forced me to look at this through my condition. 

Now, I choose to change, I choose God, I choose to live my life like Jesus wanted us to: living every day as if it could be my last.

This will mean different things for different people, but I found out for myself that LESS IS MORE.

I had to realize that I was being an overachiever in one area and replacing that with another.  I was packing too many goals into my life, I was overloaded and I was missing the entire point.

I am not sure if this makes any sense, but I was a bunny rabbit, running non-stop.  Now I am a turtle in comparison, but I am not getting less done.  In reality I get the important things done.

I felt compelled to share this with you.

Never give up, for God is always there to lead us "his” way.

God bless you.

Michael

P.S.:  my surgery got pushed back due to an emergency at the hospital.  My surgery is now scheduled for Friday, March 5^th.

Question:  How would you approach life differently today if you knew it were your last?