My wife and I, admittedly, watch too
much television, mostly the so-called “national news;” (which from my way of
thinking is little more than 23.9 hours day of bashing the current president).
But I suppose I excuse my excess TV viewing with a self-congratulatory, “I get
everything I need to get done anyway” affirmation.
At any rate, every week or two a
pastoral AARP commercial pops up on the screen.
An attractive older woman can be seen
walking down a woodsy pathway, and moves steadily towards the camera. And then
she speaks by way of a voice over.
“I’m 60. I’ve got a long life ahead of
me. Things to do. Places to go.”
And without fail, as the advertisement
runs it course, I speak to the ‘boob tube.’
“No, you ain’t got a long life ahead
of you lady. It’s later than you think. Do you think you’re gonna live much
past the average life expectancy?”
(and)
“Don’t look now, my dear, but you
might have twenty years left, twenty-five tops!!!”
I’m a bit older than the hypothetical
woman in the television commercial; a mere year from 70. And I suppose if the
producers put me in an ad like this, had me walking down a pastoral pathway,
and gave me permission to say whatever came to mind, I might say,
“I’m almost 70. My time is almost up.
I mean both my parents died at 85. I may have 15 years to my credit. 20 tops.
Pretty scary thought, huh?”
Pt. 2
The Bible assures us that,
“It is appointed unto man once to
die.”
Or, as the WWI soldier, Alan Seeger,
put it,
“I have a rendezvous with death (at
some disputed barricade when spring comes back with rustling shade).”
And though as a believer, I have every
expectation that the Savior has made a way for me, and that I will live with
Him forevermore, the afterlife doesn’t happen to be the focus of this
particular thesis.
There’s a popular movie which features
Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman called, “The Bucket List.” In this particular
movie two terminally ill men, one rich, and one not so much, tour the world
together in an attempt to do what the lady in the pastoral commercial claims
she intends to do.
Talk about a ‘bucket list,’ I’m all
for it.
In spite of my earlier musing in
response to that pretty sixty-ish lady tip toeing through the tulips, and claiming
that she has many more years to remain here, and wonderful things to do here, I
would be more inclined to muse,
“I’m almost 70. And while my life on
this earth is quickly reaching its zenith, I am determined to live what time
remains to me to the fullest, fulfill the remainder of my destiny, and impact
just as many people as God continues to set in my pathway.”
Pt. 3
If I were to
ask you to name the richest piece of ground on earth you might say, “the
goldmines of South Africa” or “the rain forests of South America” or perhaps
“the oil wells of Saudi Arabia.”
But, if you were to guess one of these
locations, you would be
…absolutely
wrong.
For you see,
the richest piece of ground on earth is your
… local
cemetery.
And the
reason for this seeming paradox?
Lying
dormant in the bosoms of thousands of these dearly departed are unfulfilled
dreams. Dreams which might have changed the world.
A miracle
medication which might have cured Alzheimer’s Disease. An invention which might
have caused trees and flowers to bloom on the Sahara. A missionary endeavor
that would have brought millions of unbelievers to a saving knowledge of the
Gospel. Or something as basic, though inestimably crucial as the reconciliation
between a father and his son.
Dreams which
might have changed the world. But these dreams will remain unrealized for a
million million years.
I am
determined to go to my grave empty; having fulfilled every dream God has
instilled in my being. There’s too much to accomplish, and too little time to
accomplish it. Virtually every day that I live, I pray,
“Lord,
please don’t let me miss one iota of the remainder of my destiny.”
Well, that’s
“where I come from,” and I hope I’ve convinced you to join me in this worthy
endeavor.
By William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 76. Copyright pending
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