The Gift of Life

^{We mark our celebrations with grains of sand from our past – each one an infinite reminder that we existed in this world. February 24th is the day twenty- eight years ago, I was blessed with the birth of a child …}

^{so unique she was, I gifted her with the name Shayla ~ from the place of the Fairies.} 

^{In composing this tribute post to my daughter in Heaven, I read the following passage that I share from Our Daily Bread:} 

^{A family friend who, like us, lost a teenager in a car accident wrote a tribute to her daughter, Lindsay, in the local paper. One of the most powerful images in her essay was this: After mentioning the many pictures and remembrances of Lindsay she had put around their house, she wrote, “She is everywhere, but nowhere.”}

^{Although our daughters still smile back at us from their photos, the spirited personalities that lit up those smiles are nowhere to be found. They are everywhere—in our hearts, in our thoughts, in all those photos—but nowhere.}

^{Our greatest comfort in sorrow is knowing God is with us.}

^{But Scripture tells us that, in Christ, Lindsay and Melissa are not really nowhere. They are in Jesus’s presence, “with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). They are with the One who, in a sense, is “nowhere but everywhere.” After all, we don’t see God in a physical form. We certainly don’t have smiling pictures of Him on our mantel. In fact, if you look around your house, you may think He is nowhere. But just the opposite is true. He is everywhere!}

^{This also echo’s within my heart… as I can also see the spark that Shayla was in earthly fireworks. I say that she is everywhere in places I never expected.}

^{Much like the glowing butterfly image in the sky, my eyes have witnessed glints of her, in memories set in time.}

^{Along the mountainsides we hiked and the waterfalls spilling forth from the carved, basalt, rock…Shayla is there. When my gaze tilts to the heavens, they spill forth into my vision, recollections of watching shooting stars with my daughter.}

 ^{Standing at the window, she is there gazing towards an eternal life. At Redwood Park, traipsing through the Fairy Forest, I recall catching a glint of her blue eyes as she navigated the roots of the woodlands. Twirling along the shoreline at White Rock, my beloved babygirl’s footsteps are long gone – washed by the sea.} 

^{Her sparks from our hotel window in Florida… they weave, as I remember the innocence of a child, emerging through a young lady in Disneyworld.}

^{I reminisce of the grace seeing Shayla dancing on a street, within her free spirit, often with music only she could hear.}

^{My heart swells with life as I think of the countless trips to the ocean, which she felt called out to her. Toes dipped in salty water, pockets full of seashells; my daughter was cleansed by Mother Nature.}

^{I find many depths of healing in the sparks that remain.} 

^{As I connect with music, I happened to find a song that reflects all of which I have spoken of. This spectacular display which radiates ingenuity, also expresses how I feel, so much that at 2:45 in the video it reminded me of a life lived and come to pass. The words to Sleeping At Last - "Saturn" do not began until 2:26…allowing the optical senses to be treated with sparks of light.} 

^{I share this special video and the lyrics, as it is a beautiful reminder that we all can ignite our world.
Click on this link:>>>}

https://youtu.be/dzNvk80XY9s  ^{VIDEO By Sleeping At Last - "Saturn"}

One night, as my tears began to collect and leak out the grief that is received in the years since she has passed, I turned to a side bar in my Bible. 

^{A study was conducted with people over the age of ninety-five, who were asked one question: If you could live your life over, what would you do differently?}

^{One of the answers was repeated numerously:} 

^{“If I had to do it over again, I would do more things that would live on, after I am dead.”}

   

 ^{Later I discovered a quote that reiterates the same message…}

^{The things you do for yourself are gone when you are gone, but the things you do for others remain as your legacy. --Kalu Ndukwe Kalu}

Shayla lived… leaving behind many things each of us remembers her by. 

On the day I brought her into this world, this child of God is the one who gifted me with a life, worth living for.

^{By TL Alton}