Before the arrows fly

There are many things we can say that are at best bad for us. Some are even disasterous.

I have a proposal for the statement that is the worst among many.

George Armstrong Custer was said to have said it immediately before, well, you know.

The pilot of the Hindenburg was said to have said it soon after being told there was a gas leak.

The producer of the Obamacare website surely must have said it right before the site went live.

The phrase has relatives, which we'll get in to, but I have my favorite part of this equation, and I've said it far too often in my life.

The phrase, as I'm sitting here without good research to back anything up or even steal of a story of two, is "I'll think of something." You know it, don't you? Bill payments are not in the mail, but I'll think of something. About to be released from the place you're staying with nary a place to land, but I'll think of something. Not having studied for the next test? I'll think of something. Officer walking from his cruiser to your car? I'll think of something.

We search for words, for ideas, for notions, for something, like throwing a feather-thin line without a hook into a placid lake and expecting somehow for a fish to jump into our laps.

It's relatives are I'll think of something later and Can you think of something and even somebody will think of something or simply I'll think about it.

The problem is, and it's a real, real problem, is often we never do. And we look up and look around one day and there is nothing whatsoever we can do about whatever it was we were gonna think of something about. The arrows start flying, the flame ignites gas and the next thing you know, we're not able to think humanly any longer. The real trouble is, as someone once said, "We think we have time." And it's simply not, not, not guaranteed to us.

I'll think of something nice to say to so and so, and we never do and time passes and so and so no longer will take our calls and an ember grows so cold nothing can ignite what once was a friendship.

I'll think of something to tell my parents, my spouse, my kids, and the ice of mid-winter comes in and blows hopelessness onto the warmth of hope.

I read this today:

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

That was Steve Jobs, who indeed passed. I believe among all the things he got wrong in his life, he got this one right. Dead has crept closer while I was typing this. I might not have the time to think of something soon. Do you? Stop putting if off, and let Christ show the way to the truth. When the depth of darkness is upon us, there is really only one way to the life. Only one. Don't think about it; commit to Him.