Get Busy Living

He said, "I was in my early 40s, with a lot of life before me, and a moment came that stopped me on a dime. I spent most of the next days Lookin' at the X-rays, talkin' 'bout the options, and talkin' 'bout sweet time." I asked him, "When it sank in that this might really be the real end, How's it hit you, when you get that kind of news?" Man what'd you do?" He said, “I went sky divin', I went rocky mountain climbin', I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fumanchu. And I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I'd been denying." And he said, "Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying." He said, "I was finally the husband that most the time I wasn't, and I became a friend a friend would like to have. And all of a sudden goin' fishing wasn't such an imposition. And I went three times that year I lost my dad. Well I finally read the good book, and I took a good long hard look at what I'd do if I could do it all again…” The lyrics to the song above, “Live Like You Were Dying” have helped many people take a deeper look within, me included.

Frequent introspection is a much needed life skill in a world where so many things are vying for our attention. It’s easy to get distracted by life and pulled in directions that in the long run bring us to a destination we weren’t seeking when we first set out. Wolfgang Von Goethe put it this way, “Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of hat matters least” I read a story about a women who received the news that she had terminal cancer and when she was asked about the impact the news had on her she life she said, “Cancer saved my life”. What she went on to share was before her cancer diagnosis she took life for granted but when she understood she had a limited amount of time left she took you might say the fictional movie character Red’s words to heart when he said, “Get busy living or get busy dying”. She got busy living.

Take a moment today and think about what you would do if you only had a few days to live. Would you talk a little sweeter or give forgiveness where you have been denying? Maybe be the husband or wife you haven’t been or become that friend that a friend would like to have. Maybe just take Jesus words to heart and treat other people the way you would want to be treated? The truth is, we don’t have to wait to live like we are dying because we already are. Let’s make the most of the time we have left, let’s take a good long hard look and do something about it! Lets get busy living!

I LOVE YOU!