Your Last Card

The other day, I was talking to Mom and at some point during the conversation, she paused for a moment, then asked if I was ever afraid I wasn't going to live a long and full life.

Without any hesitations, I replied, "No."

To some of you, that answer may sound really strange.  Maybe my women have envisioned living until one-hundred, sitting on the wrap-around porch of your house drinking tea and lemonade with your gray-haired husband.  You've dreamed of getting pregnant, feeling the little life inside wiggle and kick, and are anxiously awaiting the day it pops out and you become a mother.  Many of you are still awaiting your price charming, and have fantasies of your wedding day.

Maybe my men have had ambitions of finding the woman who they trust enough to care for their their heart and yearn for the day when they can carry her away in their arms, protecting her from every danger.  You've dreamt of buying that house, that car, that yacht, and the pride you'll feel looking at it, knowing it's the prize of your labor.  You're thrilled for the day when you'll have your own 24" replica that follows you around, wearing your much-too-large underwear and socks because he wants to be "just like dad."

But what if none of that was in the cards for you?

Let's play pretend.

Let's pretend that today, you've been given your final card: a terminal disease, a fatal car crash, surgery complications, getting hit by lightening, natural causes, whatever it may be.

In a second, your future looks intensely different.  There are no more dates on the veranda, no children, no grandchildren, no pregnancies, no spouse, no wedding, no twenty-first birthday, or even for some of you, a high school graduation.  Whatever time is left on your life clock is suddenly more important than everything else.

All of those moments, those memories that you'd been looking forward to creating, why do they matter?  Is your existence the sum of those seconds?  Do those minutes define the value that you place on your life?

It's a pretty heavy thing to think about.

I've done some thinking, and for me, I'm just more excited about the promise that I have beyond those moments.  As thrilling as they may be, I trust that when God made heaven, He had me in mind and it will be SO much better than anything I might experience here.