Life at death

While I was on the plane from China to New Zealand a couple days ago, I thought to myself, 'If our plane was about to crash, I wonder what the people on the plane would think about realising they might die in a few moments?' I thought about this and realised that I would solely think of my loved ones, my relationships with people.

When you're about to die, things like how many clothes you accumalated, how much money you have in the bank, how many experiences and countries you've got under your belt, what a successful career you have or how popular you are, don't even matter. When you're about to die, I don't think you would think, 'Well, I have had many clothes' or 'I have lived wealthily' or whatever...I hope to think you think about who you love. This is what is the most important thing in life, I believe- relationships. When it comes down to it, the quality of your life isn't dependent on material or trivial things. The quality of your life is dependent on how many people you love.

Later on while I was in flight, I was watching 127 hours on my screen. It's a wonderful and encouraging movie, for those of you who havn't seen it. It's about a man who's arm gets stuck while he was exploring Blue John Canyon and his fight to survive. I don't want to ruin it for those who havn't seen it, so I'll just say that when Aron Ralston (the main character) thought that he was going to die, images of the people he loved came to his mind. He was an avid outdoors person, and so he would've had amazing experiences in the outdoors. But I noticed that he didn't think about that. He didn't think about such times he climbed mountains, or snowboarded, or sky dived, or visited foreign countries. He thought about his family, his friends, his girl and what he wanted to have done different. He had regrets because he didn't treat them as well as he knew he should have.

It's funny when people don't realise what is important in life while they are alive and living, but it takes death to make them see that relationships are all that matter. I know I don't want death to be knocking at my door, only to realise that I wasted my entire life on things that have no use to me, that have nothing to show for them. I want to be able to say on my deathbed:
'I loved, I was loved...I have lived.'

Don't let it be too late for you to realise that your relationships are what matters most in life...and live it that way.

Listen to: Youth Group - Forever Young