The lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mind enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever.

Every one of us, at some point or another, are guilty of believing that people we care about will always be there for us, and will always be available. But I'm afraid that it isn't necessarily so. Many of us have a tendency to put off things we want to say and do until tomorrow... sometimes we run out of tomorrows. Our mothers, fathers, family, and friends are the core that we interact with everyday. We must always realize that there are no guarantees that each one of them will be available to us at will. By thinking that they will always be there, we can very easily take them for granted. The good deeds and contributions that they make to our lives can sometimes go by unnoticed. We casually can mutter a phrase like "Mom's always there", "Anne's a great friend", "Isn't Dad great?" like a programmed response with not a second thought to it. Then one day, out of the blue, the phone doesn't ring, the letters stop coming...the person is gone. At that point, we begin to realize just how much we've lost. The space that's left in our lives, that was once full, is now empty. Regret starts creeping into our thoughts that maybe we didn't say enough to the person, while they were still here. Even though it is very hard, and sometimes impossible to change the past, we can change the present. Look around....think about who in your life contributes to your development on a regular basis...and those that you, too, help. "Thank you" is not a very difficult phrase to say...but its meaning to a given person can be tremendous. It's okay to tell people how much you need them, and how much you love them. Do it while they're here. Take the time to love, by Jennifer Avalon