Deathbed Reflections for Every Day
"...by what we have done and
by what we have left undone..."
I have been thinking a lot
lately about the things I have left undone. When I confess my
sins, in spite of the words here, they are usually sins of commission
and not omission. The things I have done that I regret are the ones
that come most readily to mind.
But I have heard it said and
it is probably true that on one's deathbed it is the things that
didn't get done that cause the most regret.
So perhaps we need to do a
little more deathbed type reflection now. Maybe that is what daily
dying and rising with Christ is all about. We need to look over our
lives and see what it is that we are glad we are spending our time
doing and what it is we could just as soon not do to spend more time
on the things we really feel called to do.
Of course that means that
the first thing we will spend more time on is prayer and reflection.
I constantly have to remind myself of this. I feel more productive if
I am busy, but when I look back, the most productive times in my life
are the ones in which I spent more time in prayer. Perhaps because my
life was more in line with God's will.
Those are also the times
when I am more tolerant of interruptions. God sends people in need
and opportunities for service every day. I see them when I am most
focused on God.
Just as I have been doing my
spring cleaning and throwing out the things that clutter my life and
leave less room for what is important, as I unclutter my time I am
beginning to find that all those things that I thought I should have
time for someday begin to fit.
Lord, we thank you for the
gift of time, may we share it abundantly with those whom you love.
Amen
Copyright (c)
2004, The Rev. Dana Reardon. Used by permission. Email her at
mspastor@aol.com.
The Rev. Dana Reardon is pastor at St.
Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church, Warwick, RI. A lifelong Lutheran, she
came to ordained ministry after 21 years in nursing, mostly in pediatric
intensive care. She graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary at
Philadelphia in 1998 and served 4 ½ years in Upstate New York before
becoming a New Englander. She is still trying to understand the
accent. While in the Upstate New York Synod she chaired the Stewardship
Team. That began her fascination with what makes stewards -- and more,
what makes for generosity.
She
has three amazing daughters: Pastor Reardon says much of what she knows of
life she learned from them.
