Life's Jacket...

   Surviving the time between birth and death, may require more then buoys and boats, and not withstanding life boats and guards, death will come to us all. The conditions that will challenge upward and onward mobility, widens in some places in our lives, and then narrows as we get older some how. While external forces are helpful, having your own life jacket seems about the smartest thing any of us can ever do.
     To survive, some have had to do the unthinkable, and others the unbelievable. Necessity they say is the mother of all inventions, yet what some have had to invent just to stay alive in harshness, pen fails to record, for mind and heart tremble to think of such let alone remember. Women being left out in the cold with babies, have made sacrifices that no mortal tongue can recite for they have taken to the grave with them these deeds, and while sons and daughters still search in hopes of finding blood mothers, life's tale would rather they never find out.
     All one need do, is look at a tomb stone and see the stroke between the birth and the day of death to sense the conditions between. The sad reality is, some never got that luxury of being berried by human hands at all. For some have been lost to the sea, some have been swallowed by land and still the smoke from raging fires have sent ashes of so many this way and that. Just what lurks around the corner,  or over the crest of the hill, is anyone's guess, but a life jacket, may just be the thing to help in any event. Oh sure, when we think of life jackets we think in terms of water from rivers or the sea, but my use of the word, means so much more. For life's conditions calls for a jacket well able to meet the needs of that which life will throw at us.
   Life's account has shown us both the worst and uncertainty, yet there is a jacket of peace we can put on that notwithstanding all life's woe, we can be buoyed up, and find rest from any storm or hail life will afford. The record of this life is one of fairness, for all who came here had choices to make, and while choice is personal, life's attacks are not. What life brings to you it brings to all, therefore life is but a test, and those who fare well, are those who knew its risk and pleasures. May it be, that you and I can find a jacket able to secure against the vile that seems to dot life, and come through it with more then a smile,  or memories, and joys to prove it.
     There are buoys here and there in life, that seem to catch many struggling souls at the edge of their moments in life, steering death in the face with trembling wishing. While others never saw death coming, and went without a notice, as was some who came through the portals of thighs out of hairy hide a ways from women who did not even know they where pregnant. In most cases, a buoy is stationed where it has always been, and while it's stationary position makes it a sure defense for being washed away, some exertion may be required to get to it, to have the grip of its safety. Not so with a jacket, for it is apart of you, and ready, always, for when life turns, its nice to know you are your own buoy.
     Life boats are salvation to those in need, and the greater the need, tears flow, err that boat greets the eyes of those locked in a dance with death. However, how many would have survived to be rescued by boats designed to save, if only they had a life jacket to hold them up, for such a rescue. While a boat is perfect in the approach for water rescue, the simple fact remains, those who have a life jacket, will fair well, when life and nature converge or conspire. So too, no matter what, when or where in life the need for survival arises, being prepared is nothing more then having a jacket of defense we would like to call preparedness.
     What a life boat can not do, is what a life Guard can. For boats have no mind of their own nor arms, therefore pulling or aiding is out of the question. And life is full to the brim with times that require personal touch, yet how sad, when people use such occasions and relate like lifeboats instead of lifeguards. Yet again, its in these times, when if they where wearing life jackets, it would not matter how others relate, your own buoyancy, will give rise to a peace that allows others to be who they really are, in the face of any or all their preconceived prejudices or stupidity notwithstanding their own push to help. 
     Whether life guards or life boats or just a  buoy handy, real life requires realness at all times. I can not tell you what should be your jacket for survival, all I can do is tell you what mine is and why. Some years ago, I met Jesus, and He by far has been the best decision I have made in my life to date. He has proven to be food when I was hungry, and let me tell you I have been hungry in my life. I remember, one time I was so hungry and without money, i said a silent prayer, and sitting in a bus stop i saw some people going into a door and coming out. I inquired and was told they where being fed a free meal. Needless to say I ate and ate well, turned out they fed people 3 meals per day 7 days a week and all that was needed was an ID stating who you where. We ate stake evenings and had peach cobbler for the cook was a humble white brother who cared about people.  Pride kept out those too proud to take a hand out, but hunger demands pride in chains. Jesus has been my stay for marriage, and when two wives found comfort in other men, He had to sustain me and my heart like the true Jacket He is. Life for me ain't rosy without thorns, but the thorns are only designed to keep the roses safe. Now I do more then just survive, I live from day to day, with a smile and a hope, and while my life-jacket is only mine, God is no respecter of persons, and will have you fitted just as soon as you feel the need for one too...nj