Reflections on Life and Faith Your Last Moments A Lesson on Living In my role as a parish minister,
I sat at the bedside of numerous people in the moments or days just before death.
On several occasions,
I stood at their bedside,
Holding their hand as they breathed their last.
Not only have I heard many a deathbed confession,
But many have talked about what they would do differently if they had another chance at life.
Interestingly,
The things we've read over in our day-to-day lives were never mentioned.
In the face of death,
The only thing that matters is the present moment and the all-too-soon-to-be passing over that final threshold.
Many wept as they spoke of broken relationships they wished they could mend.
Some talked about their children and how they wished they had been less harsh and more loving.
Still,
Others talked about their guilt that they had not been more loving and attentive to their parents,
Realizing their neglect too late after the parents were gone.
However,
The most common regret and theme I heard was the feeling that they had largely wasted their lives.
While they may have had some dreams and ambitions,
They did not really follow them due to the fear of failure or what others might think.
The most common theme I heard was the wish they had dared to live more boldly,
To take more risk,
And live their lives as they wanted instead of being limited or controlled by the expectations of others.
I took from a few the feeling that they had lived their life by other people's designs,
Often their family's expectations of them,
And not their own.
They had tiptoed from birth to the grave.
They let the winds of fate blow them wherever it wanted.
They left this life with their music still in them.
Henry David Thoreau and Walden wrote that the majority of people live lives of quiet desperation.
I believe his observation to be true.
He also tells us why he went into the woods to live alone,
And it was to make sure that when he eventually came to die,
That he would not discover that he had never really lived.
He went on to say that he wanted to suck the marrow out of life.
Questions for Reflection Whose life are you living?
Yours or that of someone else's expectations of you?
Are you journeying through life or allowing the winds of fate to blow you about wherever they wish?
When you eventually come to die,
Will you do so with regrets over a life only partially lived and with your music still in you?
For One Moment Please,
This is Randall Spence.
