“The fear of death follows the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” -Mark Twain

According to the World Bank the average life span is 78.4 years.  North America ranks as the highest lifespan being 76 years for men, and 81 for women.  That being said, if your life represented a 24-hour clock what time would it be for you?  If the time is 3:00 am you would have already lived 10 years of your life.  By the time you’re 20, it would be 6:24am.   At 30 it would be just past 9:00am, and at 40 just past noon.  When you’re 50 years old the clock would show 3:18pm, and by the time you reach 60 it would be 6:22pm with less than 6 hours left in your life.  The reality is that none of us know how long we have, but God’s Word says “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.” Psalm 90:12. Why would God want us to live as if we could die tomorrow?  

When Joe and I got married at 18 and 19 years old, we always thought that he would outlive me.  After all, he had the longevity on his side of the family with grandparents living into their 90’s.  Neither of us could have predicted that the Lord would call him home at just 55 years old.  I remember for his 21st birthday,  I got him a motorcycle he really wanted.  I was shocked when less than a year later he said “I want to sell the bike.”  When I asked him why, he told me he had taken the motorcycle out for a ride to see how fast it would go.  He said when I hit 100 miles per hour I suddenly thought, “What am I doing?  I’m being reckless, and I could have been killed.”  I had just given birth to our first child, and that realization that his life was not just about him gave Joe the wisdom to sell his beloved bike.  I believe this is what God is trying to teach us about understanding the brevity of life so we can grow in wisdom.  Our life is not just about us and our happiness, and we are not guaranteed tomorrow.  Until we truly realize we were created on purpose for a purpose (2Peter 1:3-8), we will never Live like we were dying.

I think every person desires to live a life of significance.  We want to make an impact, leave a legacy, and bear fruit of a life well-lived.  The problem is the world’s view of significance is Success (wealth & fame), but God’s definition is quite different.  Galatians 5:22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives:  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”. Ask any person who has lost a loved one, what they remember, value, and still treasure the most about their loved one’s life.  I bet it won’t be the money they left them, or the success they achieved. Like me, it is the Love they shared, the Joy they exuded, the patience they extended and the kindness of the person they treasure the most!  Those are the Only things of lasting value that we can truly leave to the ones we love after we are gone.  And just like Fruit ~ it becomes even sweeter over time!

Whenever I’ve gone to a burial, I find it interesting to look at the different tombstones.  I read the inscriptions, take note of the dates, and try to imagine what that person’s life was like here on earth. Though each stone is unique, the one thing that remains the same on every tombstone is the dash.  The Dash is the Only thing we will be held accountable for. The Dash is the Difference we make in the life of others, the Fruit we bear, and the Glory we bring to our Creator! The Dash was Your Purpose here on earth.  How are you living your Dash?

The Dash Between ~ Ron Tranmer

I knelt there at the headstone of one I love, and cried.  Name, with dates of birth and death were perfectly inscribed.  I pondered these two dates and how little they both mean compared to the tiny dash that lies there in between.  The dash serves as an emblem of our time here on the earth, and although small, it stands for all our years of life, and worth.  And our worth will be determined by how we live each day.  We can fill our dash with goodness, or waste our life away. To ourselves as well as others, let’s be honest kind and true, and every day live the way we know God wants us to. May we look for opportunities to do a worthy deed, and reach out with compassion to those who are in need.  For if our hearts are full of love throughout our journey here, we’ll be loved by all who knew us and our memory they’ll hold dear.  And when we die, these memories will bring grateful, loving tears to all whose lives were touched by the dash between our years.

Father help me to remember You created me for a purpose:  to Glorify You, and  Love people!  Help me not to get sucked in by the world’s view of significance.   I want my dash to make a difference.  I want to bear much fruit, and live each day as if I’m dying!