2 weeks notice

Yesterday I had something happen that was most disappointing.  For over a month all indications were that I would receive what I had come to view as a prize.  Days turned in to weeks and the weeks melted in to a new moon and a New Year.  The sunshine of yesterday and the mood of coworkers seemed to confirm the ultimate crescendo that had been building.  And then, just when it felt the heavens might burst with anticipation, the announcement came… the “prize” had been given to another.

Reception of the news brought the normal feelings of disappointment, frustration, resentment, and even anger. Yet with the rising of this morning’s sun, a new feeling has washed over me.  The feeling came on the tail end of a thought – a memory really – a memory that had clawed its way from the depth of my past. 

As I recall, I was about 8 years old when Grandfather and I were sharing a quiet moment and he said, “Wayne, live like you only have 2 weeks left.” Though he departed this earth some 40 winters ago, this morning, it seems as though Grandfather has spoken again. If life had given me 2 weeks notice yesterday, the coveted prize I sought would surely have lost its shine. All things considered, I’m thinking most things that cause upset or hurt or disappointment in our lives might fall off our backs like water if we only kept the perspective Grandfather shared.

Tim McGraw sings the song, “Live like you were dying”.  Now I don’t know if Tim in fact lives that way or if he wrote the words to this song, but perhaps Grandfather had learned a truth which was not exclusive at all. Maybe others have also learned to keep perspective amid the disappointments and traumas of life by asking the simple question, “If I had two weeks to live, would this (prize, trauma, or disappointment) be that important?” 

Yes Tim, we should all live like we were dying.  And yes Grandfather, thanks for the reminder that life has given me two weeks notice.  

    

Right Decisions

Someone famous has said, "important decisions are best made in cemeteries".  I've made a few in that venue.  More often though, I've found I want to “sleep on” life changing decisions before making them.  So many “knee jerk”, “from the hip” decisions come back to haunt us!  How many of us find ourselves looking back over the years and seeing them littered with decisions we would love to revisit… love to redo… love to have considered just a little longer before having made them?

Not long ago I found myself sitting with my stepfather watching a number of parachutists fall from a highflying plane enroute to the landing field before us.  I commented how ‘talking the plunge’ in like fashion is something I plan to do sometime before I retire. One thing led to another in our conversation and he was ready to leap out of the plane with me the very next day!

But as the afternoon turned into night and the morning sun and coffee warmed our bodies the next day, my stepfather had second thoughts.  You see, he had time to consider more fully what complications recent heart problems might bring to such a jump from the sky.  To his credit, however, my stepfather not only had the time – he took the time to make a good decision. Sitting on the back porch that morning pondering his action of rethinking his earlier decision got me to thinking.

Truth be told, most decisions don’t need so much to be made quickly as they need to be made well! And, that made me remember what Jesus once told his disciples … “Don’t judge by appearances only but make a right judgment.”

I don’t always make the best of decisions.  Actually, over the 52 winters of my life I've made some award winning odious ones that are not easy to live with. My stepfather would be the first to admit that not all of his decisions have been good ones either.  Yet I'm thinking he got this one right because he took his time before committing. 

It’s a New Year.  Perhaps a good resolution for all of us would be to make a habit of being somewhat slow to make important decisions … to consider well the things we do before we do them… to make a habit of making right decisions – no matter how slow they are to make. What do you think?