"There are 5 people you meet in heaven. Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth. This is the greatest gift God can give to you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for."
-- "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom
If this book doesn't inspire you to take a step back and examine how you're living your life, you need to have a come to Jesus moment. And if your high school English teacher required you to read it, give them a big hug, because they just saved your life.
Mitch Albom's inspirational book of fiction "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" takes you through a philosophical journey after 83-year-old Eddie dies trying to save a young girl in a freak amusement park accident. In his journey to find heaven, he's led by five people who have impacted his life, whether he has realized it or not. Mitch is encouraging us to understand that every life intertwines with all others. And the other affects the next.
Here are a few items we can appreciate from these of these five people Eddie meets.
The Blue Man -- A Sideshow Worker
"Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know."
“Fairness does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.”
"No life is a waste. The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."
Takeaway: Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it's the little things that are the most important, but often the hardest to see. To overcome hardships, one must be thankful for them.
The Captain: His War Friend
"Time is not what you think. Dying? Not the end of everything. We think it is. But what happens on Earth is only the beginning."
“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else.”
"If people stop sacrificing for one another, they lose what makes them human."
Takeaway: Sacrifices are going to happen -- they are unavoidable. Sometimes what we believe to be a negative in our life is the reason we're still living. If we're too focused on the bad, we miss the good. No matter the situation, you choose your outcome by your attitude and acceptance.
Ruby: The Park Owner's Wife
"You have peace when you make it with yourself."
"Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."
“Which was worse when left unexplained: a life, or a death?”
Takeaway: Don't hold onto anger. The only way to be happy in life is to be forgiving. We weren't born into anger; therefore, why should we die with it? Grudges and our thoughts have the ability to define us. Understand where the other person was coming from when they hurt you.
Marguerite: His Wife
"Lost love is still love, Eddie. It just takes a different form, that's all. You can't hold their hand... You can't tousle their hair... But when those senses weaken another one comes to life... Memory... Memory becomes your partner. You hold it... you dance with it... Life has to end, Eddie... Love doesn't."
Takeaway: There is power in love and it comes in many forms. Even when the one you love dies, it transforms itself into a new love. No two loves are ever the same and it's constantly evolving.
Tala: The Filipina Child
"'I was sad because I didn't do anything with my life. I was nothing. I accomplished nothing. I was lost. I felt like I wasn't supposed to be there,' Eddie says.
'Supposed to be there,' Tala said.
'Where? At Ruby Pier?'
She nodded.
'Fixing rides? That was my existence?' He blew a deep breath. 'Why?'
She tilted her head, as if it were obvious.
'Children,' she said. 'You keep them safe. You make good for me.'
'Is where you were supposed to be."'
Takeaway: You're alive for a reason. Though your everyday actions seem meaningless, they are playing an important role in the life of others.
I won't spoil the end for you, but there may be a few tears shed when you read it or watch the adaptation on Netflix (few was an understatement for me).
I am awfully eager to meet my maker and listen to Him read the story of my life. Will I be crying tears of joy while I listen, or crying tears of regret? How many of my choices are substantially affecting the lives of others? It's been a short life so far, but full of more people and memories than I could even imagine. I cannot wait to make it more intricate and interesting by graduating college and moving on to the next step of life. My only hope is that I get to be one of the five people someone meets in Heaven.
