If you had one month to live, would you spend your time differently?  One year ago this month, I arrived to the emergency room of our local hospital.  My father had been there for 12 hours, trying to find a diagnosis for the pain in his side and yellowing skin. A team of doctors gave him their final statement--pancreatic cancer, less than a year to live. Of course we left in tears, but how we spent the next few months was not easy either.

Kerry and Chris Shook, authors of One Month To Live: Thirty Days To a No Regrets Life, have written a book which raises awareness of this issue.  Some of us know when we'll die, but most of us don't.  In their profession as pastor and wife, they've witnessed grief and sadness while residing over many funerals. Believing that people need to live as if their time is limited--which it is--Chris first implemented his idea of living awareness at a retreat. There he had staff fill out a daily journal about how they would live differently if they only had one month to live.

My father and mother awkwardly met with my sister, myself, and our spouses for lunch at a restaurant the following day.  None of us knew what to say.  I could hardly look at my dad with his piercing blue eyes. Mom and Dad began to travel--to visit my brother, grandmother, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, old friends.  Dad saw just about everyone, in his own way, saying goodbye. People were important to my father. He'd also really wanted his entire life to see the Grand Canyon, but never did. 

"Mortality," the Shooks write, "is the great equalizer."  We will eventually all leave this earth.  The purpose of One Month To Live is to give the reader "a greater clarity of purpose, and a renewed passion for things that really matter."  The book is divided into four sections or weeks which include Make It Count Moments--questions for the reader which will help him examine his life and target what's most important, and Make It Last For Life--ideas on how to utilize each day's focus.

Section One: Live Passionately--Are you putting things off?  Thinking you'll get to it in the future? The time is now.

Section Two: Love Completely--People are made to be social and emotional beings.  Have sincere relationships with family, your spouse, and your children. 

Section Three: Learn Humbly--Your money and looks will not bring contentment.  Change needs to begin within.  Drop that grudge! 

Section Four: Leave Boldly--Leave a lasting legacy. "Our relationships are the only investment that can't be destroyed by a fire or natural disaster or be lost in the stock market."--The Shooks

During my dad's final months, he purchased a convertible red Mustang with a black pull-down roof.  He drove it once.  He also buried the hatch with all grudges against various individuals he'd been carrying around for a lifetime.  Of everything that occurred, that was the most welcoming change. Dad loved people and they loved him back.  Do yourself a favor, bury the hatchet, at least for yourself, now and live as if each day was your last.  Appreciate the small moments that count.

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