Let's Live Today In Such A Way (as if we could die of a heart attack)

Jim didn't know his out-of-the-blue-question last night

(after we had ceased chatting for a little while and I was snoozing

 between pages of the book The Gauntlet) 

would spark today's poem.

He suddenly asked 'what if tomorrow is the day when people say

 'did you hear?!! Jim died of a heart attack today!'

Maybe you're laughing a little but...

It's not an impossibility for any one of us 

and perhaps a prudent/valid question to contemplate before

' the dust returns to the ground it came from, 

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.'

Eccles.12:6-7

Remember Him before the silver cord is snapped

and the golden bowl is crushed,

before the pitcher is shattered at the spring

and the wheel is broken at the well,

7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came

and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Why does it matter so much?!

Because the soul is deathless with only one of two destinations

depending on the preparation we have made!

Salvation-heaven

Rejection-hell

I can't even remember if or what I answered 

but Jim's last words last night set the tone for my first thoughts this morning!

And inspired today's poem🙏💗

Take time to thoroughly appreciate life's simple, temporary joys

but first, address soul-sacred Eternity

(Grandson checking out gramma's birthday espresso)

Second-cousins sharing a swing...

(Photo used with permission💖💖💖)

My sister's grand-daughter pulled a goofy face just as I clicked😂

To live today in such a way, that it could be our last

Transforms our sighs and what we prize where morning hoists its mast

For none can tell how near farewell draws its finality

As we embark toward that mark, we know but cannot see

To live today as if we may not have another, wakes

A sacred sense of recompense in every breath one takes

And stirs us to a humbler view of time’s momentous fount

…moments become the holy sum of which we give account

To live today as if to say ‘thank-you’ to God, who grants

Its gift of grace, each lovely face we kiss, each ‘second chance’

Will help us weave the steps we leave behind into a prayer

For those still in the thick and thin of love and living’s care

To live today in such a way will beckon us to be

More mindful of the thinning glove that cups eternity

How sweet the flask that metes the task for loved ones near and dear

How fleet the feet that rush to greet the mists of yesteryear

Where sorrows surge and morrows merge with splurge of seasons spent

This is the toll that weans the Soul from mortal filament

Pray, let’s be kind and keep in mind what lies beyond yon past

And live today in such way, that it could be our last

And live today as if to say ‘I love you, you, and You’

And live today as if we may meet God when it is through

© Janet Martin

I remember wise words spoken by my dad years ago...

"live in such a way that if God told you today or tomorrow you will die,

you would carry on exactly as you would otherwise have.

Live life always ready to meet God!

Eccles.3:11

He has made everything beautiful in its time.

Also He has put eternity in their hearts,

except that no one can find out the work

that God does from beginning to end.

Heb.9:27-28

Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

28so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many;

and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin,

but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Matthew 1:21

She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus,

because He will save His people from their sins."

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else,

for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind

by which we must be saved.”

Acts 16:30-34

Then he brought them out and asked,

“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved,

you and your household.”

32Then Paul and Silas spoke the word of the Lord

to him and to everyone in his house.

33At that hour of the night, the jailer took them

and washed their wounds.

And without delay, he and all his household were baptized

. 34Then he brought them into his home and set a meal before them.

So he and all his household rejoiced

that they had come to believe in God.