How many days will you live?
Monday Ministerial Musings
By Rev. Mark William Ennis
2024 Blog #26
June 30, 2025
How many days will you live?
Today is my last day of work for a month. I begin vacation this evening, but I wonder if I can possibly tie up all the loose ends that need to be tied before I can get away. I really feel the need for a vacation. It has been two years since I have had one. For decades I have taken a summer vacation but that didn’t happen last summer. I was ending ministry in Bergenfield and preparing for ministry in Glen Rock as well as moving and training to be a hospice chaplain. No vacation happened.
This week, one of my loose ends was to visit a lady who is in a hospice inn nearby to my town. I never got to know her very well. She worked at the church here when I first arrived last September, but she was transitioning out and her replacement was being interviewed.
Shortly after my arrival she took a vacation and then prepared to step down from her position. I only worked with her approximately three weeks. It wasn’t long before she announced that she had cancer. This diagnosis shook our small town where she had been a visible presence on our fire department and zoning board. It seems that everyone in town knew her.
Just a few weeks ago I received the news that she had not responded well to the cancer treatments, and she was entering a hospice inn nearby. Although she was not a member of our congregation, she had been a loyal worker among us for decades and an icon in town. I began to visit her regularly. It broke my heart as I watched the decline. It has been rapid. During each visit, I saw a large change in her.
I saw her yesterday. I think it will be for the final time. We were not able to have a conversation. She slept with a breathing rhythm that made me think that her time on earth has become quite short. She did not respond to me calling her and therefore, we had no conversation. My last conversation with her had already occurred during my previous visit. There will be no more conversations, and I doubt any more visits.
I am very happy that I took the time to visit her. I will always cherish our final conversations together. They were deep, sincere and heartfelt. I believe that my visits helped her reach a state of peace as she began to leave this life for the afterlife.
It doesn’t seem possible that she looked so healthy last September when I first met her and now, ten months later, she is on the verge of death. What a difference ten months can make in our lives.
I do hope that we all learn a lesson from my encounters with this woman. Life is short. There are no guarantees what life will bring tomorrow, much less a year from now, or a decade from now. If we wish to be a blessing, now is the time. There may not be a tomorrow. If we wish to be at peace, and reconcile with those from whom we are estranged, now is the time. We may not get another chance.
Let us live each day as it if is our last. It just might be. May it be a day which honors and pleases God and blesses our neighbors. Life is short. Let us live it well.
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#Vacation #Death
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