Jake's Ceiling

Jake Silberg , one of this year's Confirmation students was on vacation in Italy a year ago last fall when when took ill. Turns out Jake had cancer. He was medi-vaced home, underwent chemotherapy and, a year and a half later, is doing GREAT!.
Last fall his mom, Char, happened to look up at his ceiling and noticed that Jake had done a little "remodeling".
Char shared the story and Jake's explanation with me and I was so moved that i wanted to share it with all of you. I asked Jake to tell me about it in his own words and this is what he said...




I wrote it on November 7th last year, the one-year anniversary on when I finished chemo.

I was not exactly sure how to commemorate the event. I was looking back, thinking about what it had taught me, on how I use that struggle to improve the rest of my life.

First and foremost, I was still alive. With all the effort that went into getting through that year, I needed to remember that every day after that I might not have had and that I should treat it graciously.

The second was that this experience was bigger than me alone. With all the other people who helped me on my journey, I needed to make a difference to make that hard-fought time worthwhile.

Finally, I needed to remind myself that sometimes the best way to make use of the gift of life was to enjoy it as much as possible. Those three ideas created the poem which I see every time I wake up to remind me of what is truly important.

Every day is a gift

Every day holds the hope of changing the world

Every day is a chance to make life AWESOME!




CLERGY NOTE: Kids- do not try this (the writing on the ceiling part) at home.