Don’t Wait for Your Last Day

A Holy Week invitation to Live Inspired.

What would you do if you knew today was your last?

At nine years old, that wasn’t a hypothetical question for me. It was my reality.

After being burned on 100% of my body in a gasoline explosion, I was given less than a 1% chance to survive the first night. Although I survived that night, and the following five months in the hospital, the prospect of death never faded. It felt closest, though, on the nights before surgery.

Because burned skin doesn’t grow back, doctors had to take skin from one part of my body and graft it onto another. In my case, the only usable donor site was my scalp. So more than a dozen times, they took skin from my scalp and transplanted it, piece by piece, across my body.

Each surgery carried the very real risk that this could be the last.

To alleviate my anxiety and sadness, the night before became a celebration. My parents and siblings would come, we’d eat pizza, drink milkshakes, stay up late. Sometimes they’d bring gifts. On those nights, they did everything possible to diminish the fear and elevate me.

So let me ask you again: If tonight were your last, how would you spend it?

A big party with music and toasts? A quiet meal with family, sharing meaningful stories and memories? A long walk alone, praying, reflecting, hoping?

Most of us will never know the exact day. We can picture it, but it remains just imagination.

But there was One who did know.

As we enter Holy Week, we see the perfect example. On His final night, Jesus Christ knew exactly what was coming. He already knew of the approaching betrayal, suffering, death.

What did Jesus do?

He gathered His friends. He sat with them, prayed with them, broke bread with them. In other words, the ordinary things of life.

And then He did something extraordinary. Jesus stood up, wrapped a towel around His waist, took a bowl of water and began to wash their feet. The King, kneeling, serving.

Even at the end, His focus wasn’t on Himself. It was on others and it was a perfect example of love in action. Jesus used one of the final moments of his life, not to mask anxiety or receive gifts, but to harness the significance of the moment by reminding his friends what real victory, true celebration, and an abundant life looks like.

His example was less about how to spend the last day of our lives, and much more a spectacular reminder on how we are called to live every day leading up to it.

My friends, regardless of your religious beliefs, as we journey through this Holy Week, don’t wait for your last day to live like it matters.

Choose today to focus on what matters most, let go of the things that don’t, and strive to embody love in action. It won’t only positively impact your day, but those you serve during it.

This is your day. Live Inspired.