You usually only have to pass the age of 50 to start realising that everything will come to an end one day. When your earthly body no longer works the way it used to when you were younger, you soon realise that life does not last forever.

When you’re young, you don’t think about it. As the Englishman says: “It doesn’t even cross my mind.” Then, something happens and all of a sudden, your brain is confronted with a stop sign.

My father unexpectedly died at the age of 57. On Saturday, he married a couple. On Sunday, he couldn’t get onto the pulpit. A friend had to stand in for him. On Monday, I stood at his bedside as a fourteen-year-old. That was the last time I saw him breathe.

You’re actually still too young to understand what’s happening. Fortunately, you also don’t understand what the impact will be soon for your mother and your siblings. But that day I was confronted with the fact that one day, everyone would arrive at the this-is-the-end sign.

Who could’ve guessed that just three months later I would be standing at my brother’s grave?! A day before his twenty-first birthday. His sign arrived too soon …

²⁴That’s why the prophet said, the old life is a grass life, its beauty as short-lived as wildflowers; grass dries up, flowers wilt, ….

Life certainly is temporary.

There are some facts of life that the clever people can’t do anything about. One is that at some point everyone is going to end up at the this-is-the-end sign. No one knows when that sign will show up.

We are just like a blade of grass. We are just like a flower. The grass is beautifully green on the field and here on the west coast after good rains, the barren plains are covered with beautiful flowers. Until the sun has withered everything and only the dry plains remain.

Now one almost wants to fall into a dark hole, because what if my sign shows up tomorrow?! This is really not a fun prospect to live with, is it?

Or we can make peace with it and know that at some point, we’ll have to say goodbye and go to a much better place. And in making peace, I can decide how I’m going to live the time we’re only lent here on earth.

Each of us has been given gifts to work with here on earth and then use them to make a difference in the lives of others. That is our calling. That’s why, before we get to the sign, we have to put in every effort to never miss a chance to make a difference in other people’s lives.

Let’s not slow down. No, let’s rather pick up speed and seize every moment to make a difference, so that we’re at full speed when we arrive at our this-is-the-end sign.

Scripture
1 Peter 1:22-25

Reflection
How does the sign make you feel?
Where can you pick up speed?
Where can you make a difference?

Prayer
Father, sometimes the sign affects how I feel, but instead let me pick up speed and look forward to reaching the sign, full speed ahead. Amen.