IF IT WERE THE LAST TIME....

Yesterday I was out exploring the island and the following thought flashed through my mind. It probably borders on the morose but I felt the need to write about it anyway. My thought was “If this was the last time you’d ever see the beach, what would you do? And would you do anything differently?” On the way back to the magic bus my mind expounded on this thought and wondered if we applied that to everything in our life, how much better would this world be?

If it was the last time to see you husband would you really be upset that he left the toilet seat up? If it were the last time to see your wife, would you really be upset that she bought a coat that was on sale? If it were the last time to see your son, would you be upset he didn’t mow the grass yet? If it were the last time to see your daughter would you be upset because she came in late last night? If it were the last day on the job, would you be complaining about the copier or your co-worker? If it were the last time to see your father, would you be upset he took your cell phone away?

If we knew for certain something was going to be the last time ever wouldn’t we act just a little bit different? Maybe we would act just a little better, have a little bit more patience, show a little bit more love and have just a tiny bit more compassion for others? But so many of us (including me) just assume our wife/husband will walk in the door at night or our kids will always be safe or our job will always be there or our parents will live forever. I’m not suggesting this has to be our waking 24 hour thought, but just the next time we get ready to complain, be mad or angry, let’s just stop and put things in perspective. There are no guarantees in life and we may just pass this way once. God Bless you, Art.