Swimming with Dolphins

Imagine you had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Imagine being told you had only one week to live. How would you spend your last days on earth? What would you want to do that you normally wouldn’t even consider? Would you go parasailing? Sky diving? Bungie jumping? Nascar racing? Swimming with dolphins? Who would you want to see? Where would you want to go? Think about waking up each morning. Would you jump out of bed with urgency to experience every minute of your remaining time? Or would you pull the covers back over your head and think “why bother?” Would you eat, drink, and be merry, trying to live to each moment to the fullest? Or would you find some small chapel on a hillside and sit alone in prayer and thought? If you had only 168 hours left, would the people who annoy you still annoy you? Or would you smile at them, forgive them, and bless them on their way? Would you try to take a quick revenge on those who have done you wrong? Or would you let their insults roll off your back like rain on a Scotch Guard umbrella and forgive them? Would you visit the people whom you had wronged (a la “My Name is Earl”) and try to make amends? Would you invest a single minute of that remaining time watching television and playing video games? Or would you try to watch sunsets, play the game of life to the max, and give yourself to others in ways that would be remembered? Would you give away your favorite possessions to those you loved? Would you hand out all your money to the homeless on the street? Or would you quickly blow it all on lottery tickets, electronic gear, and toys? Would you say “I love you” or “Jesus loves you” to everyone you met? Or would you talk about the weather, sports and the last season of American Idol? Would you sleep your life away or wake and never close your eyes? Would you video tape your life’s story to give the world something to remember? Or would you watch someone else’s video? Would you dance? Would you laugh? Would you cry? Would you sing? Would you love? Maybe you would no longer spend time on anything that didn’t ultimately matter. Maybe you would only invest those fleeting hours in things that would outlast you. Things that mattered. Family. Friends. Love. God. Giving. Maybe you would finally learn to live before you died.