Living Every Moment

Nothing bad will ever happen to us. We don't say it out loud, but in truth this is how we feel. Sure, bad things happen all the time...but not to us. We feel we are invincible -- until that moment arrives that changes our lives forever. Tim McGraw understands this; in his song "Live Like You Were Dying," McGraw touches upon the reactions to a life-changing moment.

Our lives can change in an instant, in the time it takes to slam on the brakes or the hesitation in a doctor's voice. We dread these moments even as we recognize their existence. McGraw sums it up as "one moment...that stopped me on a dime" when the speaker in his song is told that he has a life-threatening illness. While the speaker spends "most of the next days, looking at the x-rays...[t]alking bout' the options," we can already see that his life has changed. Death has crept in, one bony hand on his shoulder, and whether or not the speaker can shake off Death's touch, the handprint will remain forever. It is the fear of death that remains behind, whether the speaker will actually survive or not.

My husband and I experienced this moment two years ago. We went to Urgent Care because he was having pains in his side. After one set of X-rays was processed, the technician came back and said, "We're going to need to take a second set of chest X-rays." My husband's hand slipped into mine and gripped hard. His father had died from lung cancer, and I could see the fear in his eyes while we thought, Is this it? Is this the moment that changes our lives? Fortunately, there was no dark shadow lurking in the X-ray film, no dark spector in the corners ready to whisk my husband away. But that scare was enough to remind us of how precious -- and how fleeting -- life really is.

McGraw's song talks about sky-diving and bull-riding, but its underlying meaning is clear: Life is short. Don't waste it. Don't wait for that "one moment" to arrive before you become the kind of friend "a friend would like to have." Don't hold back for another day the "forgiveness [you've] been denyin'."  Instead, make every moment, every possible moment, the best it can be.