A few days ago I was driving home from work. It was the wee hours of the morning; a Sunday morning. You can imagine how empty the free way was. Before you wonder, yes, I do work Saturday overnights. And I hate it, but thats not the point of this post. 

I was about to get to exit off the freeway and thats when I saw the scene. It was something I had never seen before. Everyday when you drive, you are bound to see an accident happen somewhere, but they are mostly minor incidences. But this one was very disturbing. Immediately I began to wonder what happened to the victims, did any of them survive? How old or young were they? If they were young, how would their parents bear the pain? If they were grown and had a family, how would the kids bear this? 

Thinking about that took me back to a few weeks ago to when I had a little incident of my own. I was going for a meeting at a Starbucks and as I was walking into the shop, this driver runs into me. Thank the Lord they were not driving any faster, because Lord knows what would have happened to me. I walked away with a small bruise that was gone in a day or so. 

Its during such life-threatening moments, where you see your life flash in front of you and you realize that you only have one life. Like its not any more obvious but in this day and age, we live like we have 9 lives. We make life choices on a whim because we assume that we have a long life ahead of us. Yes the Bible says that, “He will satisfy me with long life” but that doesn’t mean that we get to live however we want. 

When we were formed in our mother’s womb, God had a purpose for our lives, He strategically outlined our destinies so that we may live our purposed life. What do I mean by living a our purposed life? I mean living a life that glorifies Him, a life where we put our talents and abilities into something and not throwing them away into the trash. Living a life that emits loves to other people, where we are selfless and to selfish. 

However, when we look around thats not what is going on. I see young people throwing their lives away because they unfortunately were at the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. Or they live by the slogan YOLO, and by YOLO, they mean living a life full of risk. Im sure the person who came up with the slogan didn't say go jump off a cliff because you only live once. I think they meant, every life decision you make matter because you only live once. And it matters because every action has a consequence. 

So if today was your last day on earth, how would you account for the life you lived? 

Just because you are in a fix right now, doesn’t meant that your fate is fixed. No, we serve a God who is very merciful and has grace and gives us chances to redeem ourselves. Whatever point you are in your life, take some time re-evaluate your life. Ask yourself, is this where I want to be right now? If not, where do you want to be at. And what are you doing about it? 

— Sarah Caldwell

Photography: Kay