We’ve all said time and again that life’s too short. There is a plethora of proverbs that accompany that sentiment. “Let bygones be bygones,”  “forgive and forget,”  “love thy neighbor as thyself,” and “time waits for no one” come to mind here. It seems we spend so much time complaining about life. We drift away from friendships over differences of opinion. We abandon loved ones over principles. Why? Isn’t how we treat people the thing that matters most in life?

My friend’s 94 year old aunt is in her final hours as I write this. She is an amazing woman who has lived a long, full life. Although I’ve known her for just a few years, it is quite clear to me that she spent her life caring for people, not judging them; spreading love and kindness, not contempt or disapproval; celebrating people knowing full-well that we are ALL God’s children, not scorning people who don’t measure up to her standards. An hour visit over a cup of tea with Auntie Gladys, and she will have certainly said “God love ya, love” at least three times to you. At 94, seeing only shadows, she was still cooking dinner for my friend, and making enough for leftovers to take home. She worked at her church’s thrift store as a volunteer, even though it became increasingly difficult to make her way around the place. She instantly adopted as one of her own any friend of someone she loved.

My kids and I met her just a few months before Christmas a few years ago. When Christmas came, she needed a ride to go shopping. She told me she had a lovely new niece and nephew to shop for. She was talking about my kids. It was unexpected, and unnecessary, and oh so thoughtful. Kindness really does matter. My kids weren’t expecting gifts, and they weren’t Xbox games or iPods, but they didn’t need to be because my kids recognized the real gift that she gave them: acceptance and inclusion. She embraced them rather than disregarded or shunned them. What an amazing act of agape. Spreading God’s love just comes naturally for Auntie Gladys. She was an instant hit with my kids, not because of the material gifts, but because she made them feel loved. And she taught them something incredibly valuable: to reach out and be kind to people simply because it’s the right thing to do.

Lying in her hospital bed, she was unable to see who was entering the room, and unable to hear us speaking to her until we leaned in toward her ear and spoke loudly. Yet she still recognized every attempt to make her more comfortable. “God love ya, love” she said to the nurse who tended to her. My friend shifted her frail body to alleviate pain, and swabbed her mouth and lips with a sponge to give her moisture. “Oh thank you, love. God love ya, love.”

It’s difficult to embrace the world. It’s difficult to look beyond our differences and love people for who they are, or in spite of who they are. It’s difficult to not let principles divide us. It’s difficult to look at people we don’t agree with, and still see them as God’s children worthy of love and respect and acceptance.  But, Auntie Gladys, with tired eyes, still sees beauty in everyone she comes in contact with. When it comes to people like Auntie Gladys, even at 94, life is definitely way too short. If I could say just one thing to her right now, it would be this: “God love ya, love.” And make no mistake about it – I’m sure He does, as well as all the people whose lives she’s touched!