Time is up. Your time. “Not yet!” you scream. “I am not ready!” It could be a serious accident or sudden illness that took you by surprise. We spend years blocking out the thought of this moment, and lull ourselves into the false security that there is always more time. We fill our days with longer work days and busy schedules, secretly planning to live fully when things slow down. Talk to anyone who has had cancer or a sudden heart attack that are survivors, and those events made them shift their life priorities in an instant. When the moment does come, don’t you want to be able to say you lived a good and full life and are at peace with friends, family, and your God? A couple years ago when traveling on business, my plane lost an engine and was forced into an emergency landing. There was about a 20 minute flight back to the airport (with the plane awkwardly tilted to one side flying on the one remaining engine). In the silence on the plane, you could tell everyone on the flight was dealing with the reality of thoughts of a possible unexpected end to their lives. This was a moment of truth for me and how I would react. For me, I had been in a walk with my faith for several years and this moment would reveal where I was. I said the Lord’s prayer to myself, and said if this was the time He chose for me then I was ready. It was strangely peaceful. Yes I would miss all my worldly family and friends, but I had no regrets.

A few years ago, there was a popular song out by Tim McGraw called “live like you were dying”. It is worth a listen (you can hear it free on Youtube). It is about someone who had one of those life changing moments when they realized all we are guaranteed is this moment. Living in the present is how we all should live. Not in a reckless way, but in the right way. Make every single day count with the love you give, and your connection with the creator. At the end of each day, you should be able to say it was a good day and thank Him. Stop filling up your life with time wasters and focus on using your most precious resource: time. This may mean you have to put boundaries around time demands from work, or other things that eat up your time. Realize that you are in control of those demands. Manage it in a caring way, even when you have to decline doing that one more thing for someone.

So you live life more fully. More aware of your limited physical life. We all need the hope of what comes after. First realize you do leave a legacy behind. Your family and friends, and its future generations will continue, and how you touched their lives will affect them. So in one way, we live on through those we leave behind.

Everyone would agree you have a soul. Science to this day cannot explain it. I believe this is one of those mysteries that proves there are dimensions our human minds cannot understand. Maybe we were not meant to. A dimension where our souls go, that is timeless and eternal, gives us hope. If you do any research on people who have had near death experiences, their evidence seems to support something after physical life. There are too many common experiences to just be a coincidence. We live in a physical universe that can’t be explained in many ways, but we accept it because we see it. Hope is believing in that unexplained next dimension, even though we can’t see it. Faith is that hope. When you have faith, you can accept the limitations of physical life, and live with peace. It grounds you and guides you to live the right life. Faith is a very personal choice and journey that should be part of what you do to live in the present. Experience that peace.