With my grandmother's gradually progressing ALS, it's weighed on me every time I see her that it might be the last. Maybe this is the last chance I have to spend time with her. Maybe this is the last time I get to tell her how much I love her. My love for her has new urgency like it's never have before. I don't view my mom that way, but life doesn't always work so that we leave in the same order we arrived. My mom could die tomorrow in a car accident and my grandmother would still be alive. And then how foolish would I feel. If my mom, or dad, or one of my siblings, my closest friends, one of the children I work with, died tomorrow I would be a wreck. The regret would would devastate me. And I'd be left with nothing but memories and wishes that I had taken advantage of the time I was given with them.
Throughout the past month I've been discovering God in ways I hadn't realized previously, and tonight He laid this idea on my heart. Ok, laid isn't the right word. He dropped this idea on my heart like a huge elephant being dropped off of the high dive. This is what Jesus' love was all about! He didn't go healing each person thinking, "Ok, once I heal this guy I'm going to go preach about this idea, and I can't forget to catch up with my disciples to teach them about it because they never seem to understand my teachings. And once I do all that I'll finally get away and get some peace and quiet." He didn't treat people like they were a roadblock in his way throughout his day. He loved them by drinking in every moment and enjoying the time he had with them! He didn't die on the cross just so he could finish this earth business and go back to being in heaven with the Father. He did it because he believed we were worth dying for!
If we look at some passages in scripture we see that the people Jesus praised the most were those that just drank in every moment enjoying him:
"While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. 'Why this waste?' they asked. 'This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.' Aware of this, Jesus said to them, 'Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.'" -Matthew 26:6-13
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed- or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" -Luke 10:38-42
Both of these stories share a common idea. Both Mary and the woman with the perfume are focusing their attention on the person they love, Jesus. The woman with the perfume has even understood that these are the last moments she will get to spend with the Lord in person! Yes, these stories show how we should love Jesus and make him our life, but I think there's another message here. Jesus was the example, and his main commandments were to love God with all our heart, mind, body, and spirit, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. When it comes to being loved by others, do you want people to give half their attention to you when they're with you? Do you want them to get through their time with you as efficiently as possible so they can do whatever they have to do next? Or just skip over you entirely? Or do you want people to appreciate and enjoy every moment they have with you? Do you want them to make loving you their sole priority? Do you want to be a priority to them? Do you want them to love you like you were on your death bed every time they saw you? After you've thought about this, consider how you treat others around you. Do you love them and appreciate them like it was your last day with them? I'm as guilty as anyone else.
I think what God has been showing me is that this is what it means to love like Christ. No day is a guarantee for you or anyone you know and love. It's also not a guarantee for any strangers you might meet along the way. When Christ was walking on the earth he knew when his last day was, but even that didn't stop him from loving and serving others as if it was. And think about this, when Jesus was dying on the cross there were several women who stayed the entire time, drinking in every last moment. Jesus challenges us to drink in every moment we have with people, no matter how close they are to us. Make every person who crosses our path feel comforted knowing that they were worth our time.
May God help us to approach each day with these two goals of focus: 1) To appreciate and enjoy every moment God has given you on this earth in His creation and the relationship He wants with you through, and 2) To love, appreciate, and enjoy every moment spent with the people He's put in your life. Let's stop the rushing in our lives to realize what we're missing. Slow down.
Love without regrets. Love everyone like you were saying goodbye.
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