Live Like You are Dying

On Sunday morning I felt rotten. I had been up coughing and my chest hurt every time I would cough. I tried to get ready for church but after hair and makeup, I just had no energy to finish and get there. Chad took the kids and I was sad to not go with them. I needed to hear from my Lord that morning. I wanted to be there to worship with my church family and sing the songs that I love. I remembered that two years ago I had gotten a copy of the DVD from one of our services because I had wanted Chad to watch it. Chad had been gone that weekend w/Claudia to take his parents to the Smokies. I didn't get to go because we didn't get the holiday Chad was getting so I stayed home so I could go to work. We had a guest speaker that morning. He was living on borrowed time, but aren't' we all. He had (and still does) the largest blood clot ever in the left ventricle of his heart and it was accompanied by an aneurysm. He is part of a 1 person study at Mayo clinic because he is the only person living with those two things in his heart. His diagnosis was death. His doctor had told him in no uncertain terms that he will die and he will die suddenly. There will be no warning signs. There will be no chance of survival. When the clot moves or the aneurysm bursts, death will be immediate. He said every single time he sees his doctor, he tells him that is the last time they will see each other. His name was Sammy. Sammy, on the day of his initial diagnosis, began to learn how to live like he was dying, because he was. That was his message for us that day. I needed to hear it again. I'm so thankful God had me home on Sunday morning and reminded me of that message.

I am going to share the main points of the message. This post may be long and if you may want to give up on it but don't. We all need to live like we are dying. We are all one day closer to our last everyday we wake up. We forget that God has numbered our days before we lived even one. We forget that we may not be here tomorrow...and we do not live like we are dying, at least I do not. Sammy reminded us that we are all no different from him, we are all dying...he just knows what is going to kill him. This is for Claudia and Cooper. Someday, when you are reading this, I want you to know how to live life with an attitude of gratitude. I want you to cherish each day that God gives you to live your life.

If we are going to live like we are dying, we have to learn the value of the promise of life. The real promise of life comes from Jesus Christ. Why would we live a life without passion? What if today was my last day? What would I do differently? Wouldn't I be more passionate about sharing the promise of eternal life with others? I serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and yet I am not passionate about telling others about him!

In order for me to be passionate about life, I need to change some words in my vocabulary. I need to delete GOT and replace it with GET. Today, I get to go to work. Today, I get to do laundry and clean up my house. Today, I get to be a mommy and a wife. I get to cook dinner and clean up after dinner. I get to teach. I get to go to church tonight for Kingdom Kidz. I get to help my friends. I get to talk to my husband. I get to spend time with my kids. What do you GET to do?

If we are going to live like we are dying, we have to learn the value of spiritual blessings. We have to realize that our spiritual blessings are more important than physical things. We have to not worry about our loved ones. God will give them grace in abundance when the point of need arises.

If we are going to live like we are dying, we have to learn the value of a clear conscience. Being sorry about something does not mean that you have been forgiven. Unless you have confessed your sin and asked Jesus to forgive you for that sin, then you are not forgiven. Don't go to bed angry. Put aside your pride and go seek forgiveness. Don't say "If I made you angry" ...that implies that you do not think you did wrong. Confess what you have done and make it right. What if you dont' have the chance tomorrow? What if that person is gone tomorrow. Do you want to live with regret for the rest of your days over a careless word or action? Don't justify wrong, admit your mistakes and seek forgiveness from the one you have hurt and from Jesus.

Learn the value of remembering. Someone you and I love may not be here tomorrow and all we'll have left is the memory. Is it worth tainting that memory with petty arguements and disagreements? In the big picture, does your anger make sense? This blog is one way for my children to remember me when I am gone. I don't know when that will be. I hope it will be when I am very old and have gotten too old to type...but only God knows when that will be. I want their memories of me to be sweet and precious and accurate...that will only happen if I live with an attitude of grattitude and if I live each day like I am dying.

I needed this reminder from the Lord. This message was based on the scripture in 2 Timothy 1.
He played a portion of a Tim McGraw song and I jotted down these words from the song...
"and I loved deeper; and I spoke sweeeter; and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying; someday I hope you get the chance, to live like you were dying..."

We all have the chance, starting right now...I hope we all take the chance to live like we are dying before we actually are. I am reminded of the summer. I was standing in the Open Heart ICU at Trinity Medical Center in Birmingham and my daddy lay before me with his chest stapled back together. After a successful surgery, something had gone wrong. His blood pressure was bottomed out and he was literally, the same color as his sheet. He was writhing in pain because the meds had to be stopped because they were lowering his BP. He was pitiful and he could slip into heaven at any moment. It occured to me that for him, at that moment, it was too late. I didn't know if God would heal him. I did not know if God's number of his days had reached the end. If they had, it was too late for Daddy to change anything. He couldn't go back and do anything differently. Thankfully, God was not finished with Him. I rejoice that his number of days had not come to the end. He has been given another chance to do whatever God has for him. It made me think about how quickly I could be in the "it's too late" category. I dont' want to have regrets. I will because I am human and try as I may, I will still make big mistakes daily. But it does make me feel better when I live life deliberately and try to focus on what is important. I'm not promised tomorrow, I cannot change yesterday, so Lord, please help me to live today...not just get through today but to LIVE today!