As If It Were the Last

I was quite shaken to learn that a very dear friend had suffered a serious heart attack over the weekend. I thank God that he is fine and back home from the hospital now, but it was touch and go for a while. He didn’t just wander into the doctor’s office or hospital to have some tests run. No, he simply keeled over and stopped breathing. No warning. No cry for help. No final words of wisdom or blessing like in the movies. He is alive only because his golf buddies performed CPR, there was a doctor near at hand and a portable defibrillator was available. He was, in fact, spared because of a unique set of circumstances and, I daresay, divine intervention. Thank God my friend is alive, because it could easily have gone otherwise. His experience also brings back a host of related emotions from my own heart episode a few years ago. The point here is that life does not guarantee any warnings or second chances. In fact, this may be the only warning you get, which leads us to the rest of today’s message.

If you are anything like me, you probably keep putting some important things in your life off. We all have little (or large) health issues, relationships that need mending, wisdom we meant to impart to our children, issues we planned to resolve in the faith area of our lives. Oh, there’s plenty of time left, we’ll get around to those unresolved items “someday.” Ah, yes, someday. The proverbial procrastination until tomorrow. I’ll call and apologize tomorrow. I’ll start my diet tomorrow. I’ll pray or read the bible tomorrow. I’ll pay my taxes tomorrow. Feel free to insert your own tomorrow “to do list” into the equation. This is more than just a casual walk in the poetic park for me, it is the story of my ever-loving life. Defer, delay, deny ... until it screams or catches on fire. Let us, however, briefly consider that least considered of actuarial scenarios which each of us tries desperately to keep pushed beyond the fringe of our conscious thought. What if there was no tomorrow? What if I didn’t get a second chance in my marriage? What if today was the only legacy I’d have to leave my children? What if I was eternally stuck with the salvation and obedience choices I have previously made? Then, what if I had only one day to fix any or all of those things? What would you do? That is the subject of today’s poem. If you are anything like me, and I’m guessing you are, life is filled with potential regrets. So I take the liberty of asking the ultimate “what if” question. If this was the last day of your life, would you be spending it just the way you are right now? Me either. Consequently, I urge us all to reconsider the story of our lives and identify the parts of it which may need to be rewritten. Each of us is guaranteed only one second chance, and that is the one we grab hold of right now. Beyond this moment, this day, there is no sure thing. Perhaps we should live each day as if it were the last. Then, no matter what happens, we can be absolutely sure that we’ll have no regrets, nor will any be inherited by those we leave behind. Have a blessed day ... and make it count.

As If It Were the Last
What if you had only one day to live?
Just twenty-four hours to spend
To say or accomplish what matters most
Before your life reached an end
Who would you spend it with, where would you go
What would you do or see
What words of wisdom would you bestow
Knowing they were your legacy
How would you spend your money, your time
The last ounce of strength you possessed
Would you reach for the stars or wallow in pity
In light of an imminent eternal rest
Would you eat, drink and be merry
Or fall on your knees just to pray
To prepare for meeting your Maker
On that brink of your reckoning day
Whatever has raced through your mind just now
While these few simple stanzas you’ve read
About what you thought you needed to do
Before you were suddenly dead
I would urge you to make a list of them
And start living that way, even now
For we never know when our last day might come
There are no guaranties anyhow
We never know when the Master may call
When all of our second chances have passed
Then we are stuck with the life we have lived
So why not live each day as the last
Nobody gets advance notice like this
But the cement of your life isn’t set
There is still time to change it before your last day
So live a life you will never regret
By Frank Carpenter ©