I just read a powerful little post by Bill Murray from SNL among many other wonderful roles. He was writing about his friend Gilda Radner. They were at this party, and she had already been sick with the cancer that would eventually take her life. They hadn’t seen each other in a while and when she was ready to leave the party, they all made a point of keeping her there for as long as they could. He talked about all the funny people there who all took the time to make her laugh and laugh hard until she finally left. He ended his post with “That was the last time I ever saw her.” It was powerful and it was poignant, and it got me thinking.
I’ve experienced some loss this year. At least two relatives and a bunch more friends. I’ve done more funerals this year than I have done in any other year to this point, and it’s hard. My thought today is for each of them, there was a last time I saw them and I wonder, did I make the most of the time we had, especially the last time? What if we treated every interaction like it would be the last one? How much deeper would it make our relationships if we did?
What about our work as creatives? What if we treated every creation like it will be our last? How much better would our work be if we did? Now to be sure there is a caveat here. This is no time to get fatalistic. This is more about appreciation than it is about the finality of death. This is more about investing the time we have in things that actually matter and what matters most is what lasts forever, our faith and people. It’s true. We are all immortal, the only question is where will be spend eternity. What if we sowed our efforts into eternity? What if we sowed into making sure the people we love will be with us forever? We can’t do anything about mortality. Oh I suppose you could say we can do things to put it off for a while, but sooner or later, for all of us, it will be the last time. The thing is, in Christ, the last time is the beginning of a wonderful time that never ends. The Bible instructs us to make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Let’s do that and do the best we can to make those God-given opportunities count.
AMOKArts 