Common Grounds - Our greatest predjudice

“Our greatest prejudice is against death. It spans age, gender and race. We spend immeasurable amounts of energy fighting an event that will eventually triumph. Though it is noble not to give in easily, the most alive people I’ve ever met are those who embrace their death. They love, laugh and live more fully.” - Andy Webster, Hospice Chaplain in Plymouth, MI

My quiet reverie is broken by the shrieking sirens passing by. Their cries stretch and wail as they race past me. Squad cars, fire trucks, an ambulance; they race to the scene. Will they arrive in time to help, to comfort, to save? I raise my eyes to heaven and I pray, LORD, comfort the injured. Let them see you, feel your presence, and accept your love. You are mighty to save. Mend their bones, heal their flesh. If it is time, save their souls.

The psalmist wrote, “Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long?” (Psalm 6:2-3)

It is agonizing. We are all faced with death, whether a future construct, an inevitability or something more concrete. The odds delivered by a doctor. The prognosis after medical tests. The life lost in the blink of an eye. It pains me to think of losing my loving husband. It breaks my heart to even consider the loss of my sweet children. How could I go on without my mother or my father? Death will touch us all.

If you could know the exact time of your death, would you want to know? Knowing the moments you have left to live, would you change your life, your ways, your priorities?

Randy Pausch, the Carnegie Mellon computer professor made famous with The Last Lecture, died July 25, 2008. A shining example of courage in the face of death, his message reached millions. In August of 2007 his doctors told him pancreatic cancer would claim his life in three to six months. He made a choice to spend the time he had left living and not dying.

His lesson plan for us is simple:
Achieve your childhood dreams,
Enable the dreams of others, and
Never lose your childlike sense of wonder.

He tells us in his lecture that he is having fun and plans to have fun every day. He accepted his death but chose not to focus on it. He lived, loved and laughed with his wife and three small children, living each moment he was given. His lecture was a lifeline to his children that they may know his passion for life and his love for his family.

Carpe diem. Seize the day. Take time to smell the roses. There are many examples of living fully in popular culture and literature: The Bucket List, Life’s Golden Ticket, Tuesdays with Morrie.

In his novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein encourages us “to live every day as if it had been stolen from death . . . To feel the joy of life . . . To separate oneself from the burden, the angst, the anguish that we all encounter every day. To say I am alive, I am wonderful. I am. I am. That is something to aspire to.”

I do aspire to live fully in the present. Yet, I confess that I am often so busy that I lose sight of what is really important. My husband likes to remind me. He likes to sneak up on me when I am elbows deep in Palmolive suds at the kitchen sink. I never see him coming, focused as I am on fighting grease and grime. I am vulnerable. He pounces, hugging me around the waist and kissing me sloppily on the neck.

“Not now! Can’t you see I’m busy?” I complain. I am easily annoyed and angered by his sneak attack, wanting only to finish my chore. When I turn to see his smirk, I catch the twinkle in his eyes. I’m reminded to let go of what’s good for what is better. Living in the moment means embracing opportunities to love and be loved. Living fully is appreciating all that God has given. Being fully alive is embracing the 98% that is good in your circumstances and not the 2% that is lousy.

“This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Randy Pausch asks us “to decide is you’re a Tigger or an Eyeore.” How will you live your day? Winnie the Pooh’s Tigger spends his day sharing his jubilation. Full of joy and life, he pounces on friends, enjoying each day with abandon. Are you a Tigger? Or more like Eyeore? The sad purple donkey lives inside his own agony. Focused on his problems, he feels cut apart from the world. He is anxious and alone.

Bad things happen and in the end we all die. Even Jesus, in coming to this world and living as human flesh, endured pain, persecution and death. He knew his Father’s plans. He foretold his death and yet the knowledge did not consume him. He carried himself with peace and dignity and honor.

In Christ we have peace. It not a matter of embracing our death. As believers we are accepting something more. Zephaniah 3:17 “The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Peace be with you!