By Dennis Edwards

A sweet breath of fresh air swept through my life recently. The breath reawakened passions and possibilities I’d thought long gone. It reignited dormant ambitions abandoned to time and circumstances.

The breath reminded me just how alive I am. It made me want to go out and conquer the world again in gratitude for her gentle whisper.

Suddenly it occurred to me: Isn’t that why men and women go out and do what we do every day? Isn’t that why some stay behind to create the perfect home life?

Sam Cooke wrote a song some years ago called “Just For You.” “When you see me working all the day, working all my strength away, it’s for you. I finally realized, I finally realized that it’s just for you.”

Worlds have been conquered for less. In fact worlds are conquered every day for the same reason. “Just For You.” Cooke sang, “When you see me spendin’ all of my money Just to give you a good time honey, it’s for you. Oh, I finally realize, I finally realize it’s just for you.”

Isn’t that true of all of us from every walk of life, every social tier, every corner of society? We do all that we do for our first love, the woman of our dreams, the man we can’t live without, the children we adore, the parents we can’t pay back and the friends who make life worth living.

I’m moved by couples married 40, 50 and 60 or more years. There are several in my church. They’re so gentle with each other. So connected. Seems all those years of working toward building a happy life have now merged into the ultimate gift. They no longer live for living’s sake. Now, they live for each other.

Christ said: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” I suggest there may be a greater gift, after all. Maybe the greater gift is to live for someone. To get up, get out and get on with life, just so you can spend one more day with them.

A few weeks ago, Faye Nimmo Webb passed away just a month after Jack Sr., her husband of more than 50 years. For some time, folks thought Faye’s long illness would result in her going before him. But maybe, just maybe, Faye was hanging on for Jack, and when Jack went to be with the Lord there was no need for her to linger any longer. Now that’s a real love story.

Sad, you say? No, not at all. There’s actually a breathtaking beauty in their story, a testimony to the powerful inspiration we are to each other, the kind we find every day in the woman or man we wake with, love with, raise children with and ultimately live or die for.

What a wonderful gift, inspiration for life and living. If you don’t have it yet, go get it. Make it so in your life soon.

Dennis Edwards is an Emmy Award-winning television news reporter and anchor, He is a 1974 graduate of Suffolk High School. Email him at dedwards247@comcast.net.