The Bible speaks of a life-span as “three score and ten” (Psalm 90) or 70-years. While that is a nice idea most of us probably know some individual or family where that biblical promise didn’t become a reality. Just two weeks prior to his ninth birthday a little blonde boy who was full of life winged his way to heaven. Two of my brothers fought a gallant fight against cancer, but lost the battle in their sixties. Three students at King Senior High school one Christmas holiday all had their lives cut tragically short in three separate auto accidents.
Our papers and memory banks are filled with other stories, tales of lives filled with promise and possibilities, ending long before the biblical “three score and ten.” And, then we read about those who set records with their life-spans of 114 years or more. Who was it that said, “It is not the days in your life, but the life in your days that matter?” Or, one of my favorite quotes, “I’ve known people who died when they were 45, but hung around until they were 70 before leaving.”
None of us are immortal. There isn’t a person living today who will live on plant Earth forever. That is a reality and a reality that most of us do not wish to think about for very long. I always had to laugh during my pre-marital counseling sessions when I mentioned the need to write a will. The young couple would say something like, “Yeah, we know we should do that, but we are so young and have our entire life ahead of us.” I wondered out loud if there was a guarantee on their birth certificate which only got me some rather strange looks. Their statement was true for most of them, but unfortunately not all of them. Nor is it true for us.
It was a sobering assignment given during a seminar one year. We were to write our own obituary. Who we were survived by, who preceded us in death, how old were we when we passed away, what were our accomplishments and how would we be remembered. I cannot remember what I wrote, it was too long ago, but I do remember that is was a very formidable task that required long periods of thought and meditation. I highly recommend this assignment if you have an hour or two to put your life in perspective.
The other task given to those of us participating in this seminar was to interact with everyone we come in contact with as if they were the person who would deliver our eulogy. This does change our behavior and the dialogue somewhat that transpires between others and us. Or, as another individual admonishes his listeners to treat every encounter as if it was the last one we will have with that individual and if it is how do we desire them to remember us.
Granted that doing any of these things can be exhausting if taken too seriously, but what is important is to back away and take a long distance look at our life, how we are living it and who is being left in our wake. We only come through this life once might as well make sure that it is worth the journey.
Quote for today: A large volume of adventures may be grasped within this little span of life, by him who interests his heart in everything. ~Laurence Sterne
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