The Most Important Deadline You'll Ever Meet
Here it is, another work day. And here's yet another deadline I've got to meet.
I'm ready to start working now. Where's my list of important items to cover today? Oh, right, I didn't get a chance to write that out yesterday. Okay, let me grab a sheet of paper and write. First, read and highlight that research that I'll need to write that client report tomorrow; then...well, you get the point. If I don't have my list of important items right in front of me before I start the day, it's virtually certain that the day will get away from me in no time. Before I know it, the day will be over, and I will not have completed or at least started those important items.
I don't know how it is with you, but that's the way it is for me. There's always some deadline hovering out there, something I need to get done by a certain time. I really need to be prepared before I start my day at work if I'm going to have any chance of meeting my deadlines. It's usually a good, productive day when I start prepared like this; it's usually a frustrating, relatively unproductive day when I don't.
But even when I prepare my work day, even when everything flows productively and I meet my work deadline, I know I've got an even more important deadline to keep: my death.
It's not that I'm dying right now. And I hope you don't think I'm being morbid or anything. It's just the way things are. We're all going to die. It's not like I'm telling you something you don't already know. There's no secret here.
So why bring it up now, if we all already know it? Because I'm talking about my death and your death, not just the "fact" that we all die. And my death and your death share something common that's unique to each of us. Our death is the most important day of our entire lives. You know that, right? Sure. We Catholic men know this.
We know that on the day of our death, we meet Christ and we're judged. We know that on the day of our death we'll know whether we're saved or not. If we're saved, we either go straight to Heaven or, maybe we need more cleansing and we go to Purgatory. Either way, if we're saved, at some point we spend Eternity in God's Holy Presence, in Paradise. We get to live the life of joy and happiness that God originally intended for us, and which we all would have shared from the moment of our conception if it weren't for that first sin by Adam and Eve.
Of course, if we're not saved, we're condemned for Eternity to Hell. (Just thought I'd mention it.)
Now with this greatest of all deadlines looming before us all - each and every one of us - it's only natural to ask ourselves what preparation we've got planned for today, isn't it? I mean, if it's so important to be prepared for my work day, if it's so critical to prepare my day so that I can meet my deadlines at work, then surely it's important to be prepared for the greatest deadline of all, isn't it?
So what did I do to prepare so far? Did I even think about my death? Again, it's not a morbid thing we're talking about here. It's the greatest day of our lives we're talking about.
How about a couple of simple questions I might ask? Maybe something like: Is my life for God, or for myself? Or maybe this: I call myself a Christian, but is Christ really the center of my life? Maybe you can think of a few other questions you might want to ask yourself.
However you think about it, think about it. Because when you do, I hope you'll see why being prepared for death is really, really important. In fact, it's the most important preparation of all.
In the end, even if you've prepared for each and every work day of your life, and meet all your deadlines it's not going to matter a bit if you're not prepared for that greatest day of your life.
Oh, one more thing - not that you don't already know it - don't forget that this greatest day of our lives - this Great Deadline - comes at any moment. It's not like all those work deadlines where you've got a day and time lined up so you know how much time you have to be prepared. It could come for me before I get to finish this blog post.
But you knew all that, right?
I'm ready to start working now. Where's my list of important items to cover today? Oh, right, I didn't get a chance to write that out yesterday. Okay, let me grab a sheet of paper and write. First, read and highlight that research that I'll need to write that client report tomorrow; then...well, you get the point. If I don't have my list of important items right in front of me before I start the day, it's virtually certain that the day will get away from me in no time. Before I know it, the day will be over, and I will not have completed or at least started those important items.
I don't know how it is with you, but that's the way it is for me. There's always some deadline hovering out there, something I need to get done by a certain time. I really need to be prepared before I start my day at work if I'm going to have any chance of meeting my deadlines. It's usually a good, productive day when I start prepared like this; it's usually a frustrating, relatively unproductive day when I don't.
But even when I prepare my work day, even when everything flows productively and I meet my work deadline, I know I've got an even more important deadline to keep: my death.
It's not that I'm dying right now. And I hope you don't think I'm being morbid or anything. It's just the way things are. We're all going to die. It's not like I'm telling you something you don't already know. There's no secret here.
So why bring it up now, if we all already know it? Because I'm talking about my death and your death, not just the "fact" that we all die. And my death and your death share something common that's unique to each of us. Our death is the most important day of our entire lives. You know that, right? Sure. We Catholic men know this.
We know that on the day of our death, we meet Christ and we're judged. We know that on the day of our death we'll know whether we're saved or not. If we're saved, we either go straight to Heaven or, maybe we need more cleansing and we go to Purgatory. Either way, if we're saved, at some point we spend Eternity in God's Holy Presence, in Paradise. We get to live the life of joy and happiness that God originally intended for us, and which we all would have shared from the moment of our conception if it weren't for that first sin by Adam and Eve.
Of course, if we're not saved, we're condemned for Eternity to Hell. (Just thought I'd mention it.)
Now with this greatest of all deadlines looming before us all - each and every one of us - it's only natural to ask ourselves what preparation we've got planned for today, isn't it? I mean, if it's so important to be prepared for my work day, if it's so critical to prepare my day so that I can meet my deadlines at work, then surely it's important to be prepared for the greatest deadline of all, isn't it?
So what did I do to prepare so far? Did I even think about my death? Again, it's not a morbid thing we're talking about here. It's the greatest day of our lives we're talking about.
How about a couple of simple questions I might ask? Maybe something like: Is my life for God, or for myself? Or maybe this: I call myself a Christian, but is Christ really the center of my life? Maybe you can think of a few other questions you might want to ask yourself.
However you think about it, think about it. Because when you do, I hope you'll see why being prepared for death is really, really important. In fact, it's the most important preparation of all.
In the end, even if you've prepared for each and every work day of your life, and meet all your deadlines it's not going to matter a bit if you're not prepared for that greatest day of your life.
Oh, one more thing - not that you don't already know it - don't forget that this greatest day of our lives - this Great Deadline - comes at any moment. It's not like all those work deadlines where you've got a day and time lined up so you know how much time you have to be prepared. It could come for me before I get to finish this blog post.
But you knew all that, right?
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