Remember To Live

Okay, so you all know that Flyleaf is my all-time favorite band. Has been since I was 12. By the way, they are coming out with a new album this year!! I'm so pumped!

But anyway, their latest album "Remember To Live" has a really amazing story on the paper inside that I think would help a lot of people right now. Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our problems that we forget the big picture. We forget that life is not about how many things we have, or whether we look good or feel good. Not that we should ignore our pain, that's not what I'm saying. My point is that we can't live off our emotions. We have to remember to live, we have to do our best to love and help other people, and give it to God when we can't. And sometimes that's really, really hard. But as Wesley would say on The Princess Bride: "Life IS pain, highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

God never said it would be easy. But he did promise to help us through it.

Okay, I'll shutup and let the story speak for itself. Here it is:

04-12-12

My daddy died in the war. At the funeral I couldn't take my eyes off of the beautiful script tattooed on his hands. 'Memento' on his left, 'Mori' on his right. That was the first time I understood the words he had always spoken to me whenever he felt like I was being reckless with my time...or when I pitched a fit of anger over something petty...or when I went around discontented and depressed because of circumstances, over which I had no control...

"Memento Mori, my favorite one," He'd say, "We must remember that each day of each life is a gift. We must not waste the opportunities we have to be alive and to truly love."

I had wasted so many moments with my daddy because of my selfishness. I would wallow in my own problems and make them the center of my life. All the while, my daddy was fighting to show the world that if we would be selfless and love, then we could actually make the world a better place.

I heard him tell young soldiers who were deeply depressed, "You must take your eyes off of yourself, and put them on others." There was such a gentle love in his voice when he said this, never discounting the suffering in the heart of the soldiers while encouraging their care for one another. He is the only one I knew who could speak with such bold truth and compassionate love at the same time.

The day after his funeral, I embroidered a patch on my coat that I committed to wear every day with the reminder that because I will die, I must remember to live, to be alive, and to do what I can while I'm still breathing and always choose to love with joy and grace. Also, when someone I love wants to live like they are already dead, the patch reminds me of my love for them and that I should not forget to pray for them to remember to live.

I embroidered the words 'Memento Vivere' in the same beautiful script that once had read 'Memento Mori' across my daddy's hands. I know I will die, so I must remember to live.