Always be ready, because you
don’t know the day or the hour.
—Matthew 25:13
My longtime friend was dying. I flew to Phoenix to say goodbye. We spent three days reminiscing—laughed a lot, cried a little. When I walked out of his front door, I knew I had seen him for the last time on this side. It hurt.
When Paul told the Ephesian elders they were seeing him for the last time, they embraced him and wept. “What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again” (Acts 20:38). Parting is painful.
There is “a time to be born and a time to die . . . a time to weep and a time to laugh . . . a time to embrace and a time to part” (Eccl 3:1–2, 4, 5).
Someday you’ll read your last book, write your last letter, live your last day. Be ready.
Time spent preparing for the inevitable
is time well spent.