“I’m afraid you have only three weeks to live,” the doctor told his patient. “OK, then,” the patient replied, “I’ll take the last two weeks of July and the week between Christmas and New Year’s.”
David’s song in Psalm 39 contains his prayer to live in the reality of his impending death. We all know that we’re going to die. Yet the reality of that rarely impacts our daily thoughts, behavior, or decisions. He writes, “My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, a fire burned. I spoke with my tongue: LORD, reveal to me the end of my life and the number of my days. Let me know how transitory I am. You, indeed, have made my days short in length, and my life span as nothing in your sight. Yes, every mortal man is only a vapor.” David is convinced that the brevity of life should impact the way we live.
Kerry & Chris Shook wrote a New York Times Bestseller entitled, “One Month To Live.” The Shooks ask us to consider how our perspectives would change if we found out we had just 30 days to live. After the initial shock, we’d probably resolve to squeeze all we could from the days that remain. We’d say what we really think. We’d love with abandon. We’d focus on whatever we care about most. In short, we’d stop wasting precious time, and in whatever time we had left, we’d throw ourselves into becoming the person God intended us to be. The authors suggest four principles to live by in the light of our mortality. They suggest that we first, live passionately. Live each day as if it were our last. Second. Live completely! Show others the kind of love that transcends and transforms lives. Third, Live humbly! Grow through our problems and our pains of our lives. And finally, Live boldly! Create a legacy that will impact those we leave behind.
In Rick Warren’s forward to the book he writes, “Embracing your mortality sets you free to live a meaningful and satisfying life without regret. As He did with Queen Esther, God put each of us in the world ‘for such a time as this.’”
Chuck
“I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are helpless take heart.” (Psalm 34:1-2)