A Reminder That Life Is Short

Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. - James 4:14

I rushed from my car, through the parking lot, and into the front doors of the two story building. With my water bottle and phone in one hand and coffee in the other, I shuffled to one of the back conference rooms for a meeting that was starting in less than 5 minutes. Right before I walked in, my phone started ringing. It was a friend who normally doesn’t call me out of the blue (because we’re both planners like that and like to schedule our phone calls). So I picked up.

She asked if I was in the middle of something. I said I was walking into a meeting but I had a couple of minutes. She said it wouldn’t take long, and then proceeded to tell me that she found out this morning that her cousin passed away last night.

And everything just kind of stopped for a second.

I was heartbroken for my friend and her family. I’d had the pleasure of meeting and hanging out with her cousin several times over the last few years on trips I’d take with her family for Memorial Day or the Fourth of July. In fact, we were just there visiting last year.

None of us had any idea that’s the last time we’d see him. But this morning, the weight of that truth hangs heavy.

Needless to say, I was reminded this morning just how short life really is. None of us know how much longer we are going to be on this earth. James tells us in his epistle that our lives are like a mist that is here and gone in the blink of an eye. Our time on this planet is limited, and therefore it cannot and should not be wasted.

I know it’s easy to get tied up into all of the tasks that have to be completed, chores that have to be finished, and meetings that have to be attended. I know our schedules are jam packed more and more every season. And I know it’s tough to slow down. But my hope is that this morning, in light of this heartbreaking news of a loved one lost, we’ll remember how precious and how short life really is.

I pray that we’ll make time for the people we love, even when our to-do lists are pulling us in a bunch of different directions. I pray we’ll fill our calendars with things that give us life, rather than spending all of our time on things that suck the life out of us. And I pray that we’ll live each day holding nothing back, because for right now, today is all we have.

So take a minute to slow down. Tell the people closest to you that you love them. Send that text or make that call you’ve been meaning to make. Go for a walk just because. Thank God for all that He’s blessed you with. And ask Him to help you make the decision each day to live out every minute He gives you to the absolute full.