I only have a month to live!

     Pretty disturbing words to read aren't they.  I can imagine that they are even more disturbing words to hear from a doctor.  The concept of "living like we are dying" almost sounds cliché these days, but I just recently did a funeral service for a lady who apparently did just that.  She was told that she had cancer and that her days were numbered.  She took their words very seriously and began living each day as if it could be her last.  Interestingly enough she lived for another 16 years.  Talking with her family I was amazed at the impact this woman had on the people around her.  They said things like, "She lived for her family."  "She touched so many lives and made everyone around her feel special."  Viewing each day as potentially her last caused her to invest in the one thing that would live on after her: people.
     I have been constantly reminded of Psalm 39:4 "Lord remind me of how brief my time on earth will be.  Remind me that my days are numbered--how fleeting my life is."  As I remember looking at this woman lying in a casket, I keep thinking "that is where I will be."  No matter if we are diagnosed with a terminal illness or not, the truth that all of us must acknowledge and which is so clearly stated in God's word is: "our days are numbered."
     Even though I know this, I put it off thinking "I have plenty of days left."  That is why I ignore the important and focus on the urgent.  I performed another funeral service some time ago which was the antithesis to this lady I just spoke off.  The story I got from his family in a nut shell was this: He lived to be 90 years old.  He worked till he was 60 and then retired.  But all of the memories I got from his family was of him watching TV.  He literally spent over a third of his life watching TV!   I was astonished at how much time he wasted.  But when I am really honest about my life I waste an incredible amount of time myself on things that will not live on after I am gone.
     I challenge you to start each day with this prayer from Psalm 39 "Lord remind me that my days are numbered."
     So I leave you today with these questions:
           How would you live your life differently if you knew you only had a month to live?
           Why wait till tomorrow to live the life you really want to live? Why not start today?