When the End is Near

How does one prepare for his own demise. I used to think as I drove down the road, “If this or that happens, I will react in this way to avert a bad outcome. Ironically things happen in split seconds and not in rational minutes. This became a reality when canoeing in Michigan with my wife. We decided to take a short cut through a set of rapids. I made the mistake of grabbing a fallen tree limb in the river as we went by. It two seconds we were upside down in the water. Life is the same way. Split seconds often decide our future in this life. To think we can plan out our life to the end is rather foolish. Things happen when  we least expect them. It is more important to live each day to the full, enjoy our families, and be grateful for the gifts others bring into our life.  Planning is important, but a wise counselor once said, “Life happens when we have other plans.”  Live every day as though it will be your last.

When the End is Near

How does one prepare to die

When all my life I have always denied

Until the time of confrontation

Be it diagnosis or major complication

I used to think I could plan it out

And when my time came to go out with a shout

How foolish to think I could have any say

When my time has come and it’s my day

The older I get the faster the time flies

Like a barreling freight train that comes flying by

To plan for my end must be done in the living

Of each day’s moment each opportunity for giving

When that time comes and it will for us all

I can say while I lived I gave it my all

And if I keep going on as long as I can

When it’s my turn to go I won’t need to plan

But when I am gone if I am remembered

Hopefully it will be that I never surrendered

As I press toward the mark of that high calling

I trust that my life will have been worth the living

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Stamp mixed media art: Dwight L. Roth