A friend of mine was recounting a recent experience with a patient who had been sentenced to life in a wheelchair as the result of a serious auto accident.
“My first question to him was ‘Do you want to live or not?’ The guy had lived a very active life, and the thought of a sedentary existence left him disconsolate. I told him that if he didn’t want to live, I couldn’t help him. If he did, we could explore his possibilities together.”
The paralyzed man decided he did, indeed, want to go on with his life, and today he is studying engineering.
I was surprised by my friend’s stark question about wanting to live, but in retrospect I see that it was a crucial one. Unless we say “yes” to life, the human spirit cannot triumph. Half-hearted living is on living at all.
It’s something like lukewarm faith. Fortunately, God has planted a strong survival instinct in each of us, a life force that resists to the end. The mystery is why it so often takes a life-threatening crossroad to discover life’s absolute preciousness and real purpose.
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