It becomes so easy to get involved with what the world has to offer, the latest sports story grabs our attention, the current financial crisis brings concern for the future and strained relationships with people we thought we knew drain us of energy. Then, all of a sudden, something happens that rocks our world. Maybe it's the death of somebody we new, or the onset of serious illness. All of a sudden the pack of cards that was your life comes tumbling down, your perspective changes, and you come to realise that life is 'fragile'. The realisation of this becomes unsettling because we all want security, and without really knowing we have thought that nasty things happen to other people, not us. But now it's unavoidable, tragedy has visited our doorstep and there is no getting away from it. Therefore,it becomes time to live differently, to think about and understand what is really important and focus on these things. Something we should be doing all the time if we were not so complacent, and we didn't take the gift of life so likely. However, if we are fortunate to come out from the other side of this there are things we need to learn, and some home truths that we need to hold onto. This doesn't mean becoming fatalistic, but to live life in a grateful way, knowing that we may not have everything we want (wife, family, own place etc) but we still have something that others do not (health and well being). Moreover, as a Christian I can write this with a hope of things to come, a belief that this fallen world is not the end but the beginning of something new, something so amazing it becomes impossible to imagine. The fact is that I believe in a loving God that can redeem even the most tragic of circumstances, and because of this I can walk in light of the fact that life is fragile (that will never change) but have hope that isn't just wishful thinking.