"You're gonna lose this game, but so what? I'm proud of you. You don't need this game. You're all good guys. You're gonna have good lives." -Paddleton
The song, "Live Like You Were Dying" hung in my mind today as I reflected on the concept. What would life be like if we truly did live every day as our last? Even more so, what would it be like if we lived as if everyone we knew and loved would die tomorrow? I couldn't help but think that that would be revolutionary.
If our friends, our significant others, our parents, or our siblings were living out their very last day today, how would we treat them? If this was our final chance to leave a memory, to forgive, to make an impact, to love..
Perhaps we would make them their very favorite dessert, especially after we get off from an 8-hour shift at work (because love is sacrifice).
Maybe we would say yes to going somewhere they loved, even though it didn't particularly peak our interest. Then, we would find positive tokens of joy in that activity and live in the present moment with them.
Maybe we would embrace their hobbies and dare to love them as if they were our own hobbies.
Maybe we would let go of the wrongs they had done to us in the past and see all of the good qualities in their character.
Maybe we would remember that time when they picked up the stray animal off the street, gave the homeless man a few extra dollars or a popsicle out in the heat. We would remember the mission trip they went on or that time they got an extra blanket to cover our cold feet. We would remember when they carried us to bed because we fell asleep on the couch. We would remember when they said they were proud of us, whether it was one time or a hundred times. (Proud is still proud.) We would remember the time that they sang a lullaby to us or a hymn after a hard day. (Child or adult, we all need that gentle song amidst the world's weight.) We would remember that extra stop to get ice cream because they knew how happy the simplest pleasures make our hearts. We would remember the times they waited up to eat dinner with us.
We would remember and we would thank them, because there is always beauty to be found amongst the failures of us flawed human beings.
May we dare to live with this mentality every day, because it very well could be the last one.
Perhaps our hugs would be sweeter, our smiles would be brighter, and our hearts would be more accepting and forgiving.
"He said: I went skydiving I went Rocky Mountain climbing 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"
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