Digging a Deeper Well

I'm going to do something a little out of character and actually post a blog of thoughts, instead of just recent events. I heard some news this week that touched my heart, and I just wanted to share a few things I've been thinking about. This last Wednesday, July 7, a Coast Guard helicopter based out of Sitka, Alaska crashed and killed 3 out of the 4 men on board. All 3 men were family men, all left behind children, and 2 left behind wives. One of these men, Brett Banks, was from the small LDS ward in Sitka. While I didn't know the Banks family from my time serving in Sitka, (they moved in after I was transferred) I did know many of the Coast Guard families stationed there, and I know how brave and honorable they are. Hearing how this crash has affected the small island community I love so much has wrenched my heart out. I think of the wives who no longer have their husbands on this Earth, and children who no longer have their fathers, and it makes me want to cry. I know that our Heavenly Father's plan allows us to be together again as families in the next life, and I am so grateful for that. But the lesson I learned this week was slightly different. I get so caught up in just living life-going through the day-to-day motions of work, school, calling, playing-that I forget how fragile life really is. Any of us could be called home at any time; are we ready for that? Even if it's not death, there are a lot of accidents and situations that can change our lives in the blink of an eye. Are we ready, emotionally and spiritually, for that? Tendons tear, cars break down, social ideologies change, and people do mean things. Life comes at us fast, and I don't know if I am personally spiritually ready for all these things. If we don't have a reserve built up now, when life is good, we won't have anything to draw from when it gets hard. All I know is, after this week, I'm going to try better to have a deeper well to draw from. Hope this wasn't too depressing!