Garth Brooks: If Tomorrow Never Comes
A Song by Garth Brooks; A Poem by Norma Budden
How vital is it to tell those you love that they are important to you?
Is it something you take for granted most days, feeling others know how you feel?
Well, an important question to ask yourself is this:
What happens if tomorrow never comes? What happens if your loved one passes on unexpectedly or you go to sleep and never get another opportunity to voice the words, "I love you?"
Our thoughts have the ability to take a different direction when posing such sobering questions and, by taking that step, it could mean the difference between living life ... and living life to the fullest.
Photo credit: USA Today
If Tomorrow Never Comes - as featured on YouTube
Listen to the song while singing along with the lyrics below!
Note: This is not Garth Brooks singing but he's the next best thing...from those that I've heard.
Garth Brooks: If Tomorrow Never Comes - The lyrics
Sometimes late at night
I lie awake and watch her sleeping.
She's lost in peaceful dreams
So I turn out the lights and lay there in the dark.
And the thought crosses my mind
If I never wake up in the morning,
Would she ever doubt the way I feel
About her in my heart?
(chorus)
If tomorrow never comes
Will she know how much I loved her?
Did I try in every way to show her every day
That she's my only one?
And if my time on earth were through
And she must face the world without me.
Is the love I gave her in the past
Gonna be enough to last
If tomorrow never comes?
'Cause I've lost loved ones in my life
Who never knew how much I loved them.
Now I live with the regret
That my true feelings for them never were revealed.
So I made a promise to myself
To say each day how much she means to me,
And avoid that circumstance
Where there's no second chance to tell her how I feel.
*chorus*
So tell that someone that you love
Just what you're thinking of
If tomorrow never comes...
Garth Brooks Music
Three Simple Words
"I love you..."
Words spoken between couples, between parents and children, amongst friends and siblings, amongst the rich and poor, between a Creator and His Creation...
The most beautiful and amazing words on Earth; they carry more power than the human mind can comprehend.
To speak these words should not be a source of embarrassment; instead, one should feel a source of pride.
What would happen if I lost someone close to me?
It would feel especially terrible if the person died not knowing that I cared...
To lose a loved one - a person you are close to regardless of whether you are related by blood - is an awful feeling; I've lost people through death but, admittedly, I was closer to some people than others.
I lost my maternal grandfather as a teenager and my heart felt ripped in two, though I didn't allow anyone to see my tears; I didn't go to the funeral but, instead, paid a visit to his grave site after the funeral was over and school classes were finished for the day.
Though not through death, I feel I've lost my maternal grandmother who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's; she can no longer remember me. I'm thankful, however, that when she did know me, I called every couple of months and we had good conversations over the phone.
I've lost friends in the community in which I live; some of them have committed suicide and that's always the most difficult to endure because it leaves so many questions without answers. The question "Why?" is seldom far from thought.
I've lost friends to cancer; I will never see their smiling faces nor joke with them, nor hold their hand again. Never again will I take their photos. It's sad and, most tragic of all, is that it's a part of life; we never get to hold onto a person, in a tangible sense, forever.
Parents die at young ages leaving small children behind who continue to search for their parents. Elderly people pass on and the younger people wonder who they will turn to when they need advice. Small children become ill, are killed as a result of vehicular accidents and are too often abducted.
The list goes on ... and the longer the list becomes, the sadder it all seems ... the tears fall like rain and you wonder how you will ever clean up the mess your tears have made, deep in your soul where no one can truly see.
If you shed more tears than you smile; if you have more nights when you are restless than when you're resting well; if you cry for no apparent reason - please visit When Darkness Settles In.
Despite it all...
Many people just can't say those three words comfortably; they feel the words, "I love you" has to be the hardest expression to get out of their mouths...even when their hearts feel overwhelmed by love.
But it comes at a high price later - when the time comes that a person no longer can say it to someone and wishes the opportunity could present itself again.
Not waiting another minute
Time is too precious
My friends know who they are and they know I love them; I've told them countless times over the life of our friendships and I could pass on feeling content that nothing was left unsaid where my friends are concerned.
My family: it depends on what you view as a family. If it's my immediate family who live in my house - my children - they most assuredly know I love them, even if I am busy trying to provide for their needs on a daily basis.
My other family would be the family I lived with as a child: my parents, my brother and sister. I could tell them more often that I love them instead of being too busy to pick up the telephone.
Anyone else - my parents' families as children - I've learned to be selective about; anyone that I'm truly close to I refer to as my friends, who will be in my life forever...and they know I treasure them.
If Tomorrow Never Comes
A poem by Norma Budden
I listened to Garth Brooks singing, If Tomorrow Never Comes and it impacted me as never before; whether that's because I've never loved a person, and relationship, as strongly in the past as I do now, I don't know.
Whatever the case, I cannot get this song out of my mind and it's been a few months now. I keep looking at life from the perspective that I could lose anyone I love, at any given moment.
I could not help but write this poem and I could not think of a more appropriate title than that of the song I was listening to just before writing the poem you are about to read.
If Tomorrow Never Comes
My heart and soul - they feel so full;
I think of you most of the day.
My love for you is oh, so strong
And, in my mind, a song does play.
It makes me wonder about our lives,
About the love and hope we share.
I ask myself a thousand times,
"What else can I do to show I care?"
I try to do my best each day
To prove how much you mean to me.
I fill the tablets of my heart
With words that you are sure to see.
Truly, I couldn't ask for more;
You light up the darkness in my soul.
My world revolves around your love;
I see a dove and I feel whole.
Today, our dream is to live forever
Though we know that it cannot be.
One of us will be the first to leave
And the other will feel lost at sea.
I don't want that day to come,
But if it comes that I should pass
I'd like to know deep in my soul
That our love was built to last.
And so, today, I grant to you
Everything I am, all I can be.
In this life and the one beyond
Our love will always set us free.
~ Norma Budden ~
~ October 1, 2009 ~
Time is precious
You don't know how much, or how little, time you may have to build relationships with those you love most.
You may live for years but your friend down the street, unknown to you, may only have a week or two to live.
Your parents may live into their 80s or 90s - but what if they don't?
Let's not waste opportunities to reach out to those we love with the important words that can enhance their day and, possibly, save their lives.
Go ahead...
Say "I love you" today!
Tell someone you love them
in your own words
What better way to tell someone how you feel than using words coming from your own heart!
Of course, it's wonderful when you can voice the words to those you love; however, when you struggle to find the right words or fear being interrupted, these cards may be the perfect solution for you...and they depict beautiful sunsets.
Golden Splash, as this photo is so aptly named, is a Pigeon Lake sunset photo; it continues to fill my heart with a song of thanksgiving and joy. There's something about the photo that captivates me and throws me back into another time and place - another lifetime, or so it seems. The sun spreads her rays across the sky and lake so that the human eye is basked in sheer radiance. Could anyone ever ask for a greater gift than to watch this spectacle unfold?
Darkening clouds over Pigeon Lake - it's at this point when I know the sun won't be around much longer.
Sadly, I know I will sleep through its counterpart - sunrise - but I'm thrilled at having had the opportunity to experience this particular sunset - and watching its various phases. I enjoyed the opportunity to watch today preparing to say, "Good-bye," in preparation of welcoming tomorrow with it's hopes, dreams and possibilities.
Today is Temporary
For more information, click the image.
Saying the phrase, "I love you..."
After reading this lens, do you believe it will be easier to say the words, " I love you?"
What's your answer?
For good reasons, or bad, who do you feel is/was most popular?
What are your thoughts about this lens which features music by Garth Brooks? What about Norma Budden's poem and thoughts when considering the words of the song, "If Tomorrow Never Comes?"
The song and poem both convey wonderful sentiments and I really would like to hear your opinions about both.