April 25, 2014
I’ve been watching videos of sermons and TED talks while I
am exercising on my recumbent bike. It
is hitting two birds with one stone: I always learn something plus it makes the
time go really quickly. This morning’s
TED talk caught my eye because of what I have been teaching in my Human Growth
and Development class. It is a class
that covers physical, cognitive, social, and personality development across the
lifespan. Given that it is the end of
the semester, we have been learning about late adulthood which, of course, then
includes discussion of looking towards death, becoming more relational, and
evaluating your life.
So, when I saw a TED talk titled “Before I die I want to…” I
was intrigued. Developmentally, I am in
the stage called middle adulthood. Maybe
that is why I am thinking more about my bucket list – that list of all the
things I want to do before I die. The list
is growing and I love hearing other people’s ideas so I hit “play” on the
video. It is a great talk and I’ve
included a link to it below if you want to take the very few minutes to watch
it for yourself.
The statement that most caught my attention and caused me to
think was towards the end when she said, “Thinking about death clarifies your
life.” There is a lot packed into those
six words. Thinking about death in a
positive way that says, “My time is limited and becoming more and more
precious, what am I going to do with it?”
We’ve all heard the saying that we should live our lives as if each day
were our first and last. When looking at
things with a sense of wonder and excitement, that works. When looking at relationships that need to be
fixed, or wrongs that need to be righted, that works. But, practically speaking, if I knew I only
had a very short time to live, I would do something incredibly different than
what I have planned for today. I wouldn’t
go get my hair cut, I wouldn’t sit out by the pool. I’d probably jump on a plane to somewhere in
Europe or the Mediterranean.
Knowing that our time is limited and more precious is
certainly based on the assumption of living an average life span. It is looking forward to what do I want to do
and that is largely based on looking back and evaluating what I have already
done.
“Thinking about death clarifies your life” also hit me since
we have just celebrated Easter which is about not just the resurrection of our
Lord and Savior but also His sacrificial death.
When I think about that death,
it absolutely clarifies my life. When I
think about what He went through for me, it absolutely clarifies my life. When I think about the love that He has for
me that motivated Him to take on my sin and become my intercessor, it
absolutely clarifies my life. When I
think about the fact that He arose from the grave and He lives, it absolutely
clarifies my life. When I think about
how he sent the Holy Spirit to be my counselor, my comforter and that it
indwells me, it absolutely clarifies my life.
“For God so loved [Audra] that He gave His only begotten Son”
~ ~ John 3:16 (Audra’s personalized version)
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