“Our trip is already 700 miles - are we seriously adding another 400?”; “That movie was so good!”; “What’s her problem? OMG! She gets on my last freakin’ nerve!”; “Did you go to the bank?”; “I feel like I’m so alone!”; “How are we ever going to get all of this done?”; “Can you believe she is in college?”; “It seems like my life is flying by so fast.”; “I’m so proud of her.”; “Why am I here God?”
Sometimes life can feel like a game of 52 card pick up with a timer running, as we scramble through both our thoughts and actions in a seemingly vain attempt to keep up with, manage and make sense of it all. Our decks of cards can vary from finances, health, relationships, marriage, children, work and the day to day grind culminating in our: successes and failures; joys and sorrows; our certainties and uncertainties; and so on. A thin invisible line runs between this aspect of our life and the actual quality, value and purpose of who we are.
When I was a child, I played a game at the pool with my friends called simply, “splash”. When it was my turn to be in the middle and get nailed by everyone surrounding me, water would come at my face from every direction, to the point that the fun would briefly give way to a sense of panic, as the water pelted my eyes and filled my mouth and ears without ceasing…until I remembered to simply just go under the water. It was there that I would experience a reprieve from the unrelenting splashing, chaos and even sound, while the game then moved on to the next recipient, at which point of course, it would once again become a fun game to rejoin.
Life is so magnificent in all that it offers, both the good and the not so good. When asked to define our life and who we are, it can often be hard to do. Most of us would define our life by: What we do; Who we are; and What makes up our daily living. But even then, it can be difficult to use this description and truly feel a peace that it sufficiently defines “me”. Indeed our life can feel like the game of “splash” as it comes from all directions, leading us to desire and in fact need, a moment of reprieve to get centered before returning back to living…with our joy intact.
I read a book entitled “One Month to Live – 30 Days to a No Regrets Life” by Kerry Shook, and participated in a discussion group for a period of six weeks, to take our time and examine the principles outlined in it. It enabled me to look at my life from an angle I’d never considered prior, which was: If I knew for a fact that I had one month left to live, how would I live my life? Normally I wouldn’t want to dwell on that, but the concept of a limited time to live was not presented negatively, but rather in a way that provided an action based explanation of how to truly LIVE!
You see, the truth of that thin line I mentioned earlier, is that it is what distinguishes between existing and truly living. Some of the topics included: Living the Dash, which focused on our tombstone where there are two dates, (birth and death), and in between the two is a dash, and that is the summary of our time on this earth and how we chose to live it; Learn Humbly, which explores how to live fully through our most difficult circumstances – grow from them – and live more wholly because of them; and Living With No Regrets, which looks at living a life that pushes back against “regrets”, to instead focus on taking ALL that we have and ALL that we are, with ALL that God is, to live a life of passion, pursuit and purpose! One Month to Live Challenge
(c)2017-2021 Rebecca Balko
(c)2017-2021 Rebecca Balko
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