You are dying. Live like it.

I stood in the high school gymnasium bleachers, chatting with a friend about our plans for the upcoming winter break. She said their family was booked to go on a cruise but that there was a basketball game scheduled now, so they didn’t think they were going to be able to go.

I asked her, “if you knew you were going to die soon would you go on the cruise?”

Yes. All day long yes.

Because high school basketball isn’t what’s really important in the scheme of life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love that my kids are committed to their sports and that they have the health and ability to be a part of this culture. I love what they gain through sport and being a part of a team, but I don’t agree with it always taking first place in our lives.

When push comes to shove we must choose our family once in awhile.

Otherwise you miss out on this. There were many reasons to say no to taking this trip to Hawaii in October. Staying connected as a family is a priority for us, so we needed to say yes.

We must consciously think of the end of our lives. Will we remember that game our kid played in or will we remember that memorable vacation we all spent together? When my son is on that court and I’m in the stands, I am supporting him but not connecting with him. There’s a big difference and it’s why we need to recognize when it’s time to say yes to our family team.

Maybe we shouldn’t go away because we will have to miss our kids activities or because money is tight. But, we will never regret saying yes to our family adventure in the end.

We’ve got it all wrong that we feel more dedicated and tied to our kids activities, teams and coaches than we do to our own family members. 

I don’t know if my friend’s son is a star basketball player or not. I don’t know if he plays the entire game or sits the bench. Perhaps the team really needs him for the win, but in the same breath why do we hesitate to let the team down over letting our own family down?

Then she says, we could save money by not going on the cruise too. True. We can always save money and sometimes it’s necessary to do so.  Other times we use that as an excuse to stay put because it’s easier.

I said to her, “you can’t take the money with you when you die either.”

We like to use excuses to live small. Oh we have basketball. We shouldn’t spend the money. We shouldn’t do this and we shouldn’t do that. Says who? Our lives become entrapped by all the shouldn’ts that we tell ourselves not to do. These excuses we live by will be the regrets that we will have in the end.

Try running decisions in your life through the filter of

I know it’s not comfortable to think or talk about our own mortality, but we need to remember that death is inevitable. It’s one thing that we all have in common, we’re just not sure of God’s timing. Perhaps the phrases-  are cliché but they are most certainly truth.

That family didn’t end up going on the cruise and the team lost by over 20 points. Guess what? My friend said they should’ve gone on that cruise.

We only get one shot at this day. This week. This month. This year. Say yes to your adventure. You will never regret doing that.