One Month to Live, Part 2

Do you suffer from "Someday Syndrome"?

Do you find yourself saying or thinking, "Someday when … then I’ll …"?

Would knowing that you had a limited time to live make a difference in doing things you’ve been putting off until "someday"?

Country music singer Tim McGraw’s thought-provoking song "Live Like You Were Dying" tells the story of a man in his early 40s who receives a devastating medical report. When the man is asked what he did, his response becomes the song’s chorus:

"I went skydiving,

"I went rocky mountain climbing,

"I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named Fu Man Chu,

"And I loved deeper,

"And I spoke sweeter,

"And I gave forgiveness I’d been denyin’,

"And he said someday I hope you get the chance,

"To live like you were dyin’"

The book "One Month to Live," by Kerry and Chris Shook, founders of the Fellowship of the Woodlands church near Houston, is a 30-day challenge to do just that – to live as if we were dying.

It began as an experiment at one of their staff retreats where they asked, "If you knew you had one month to live, how would you live differently?"

They gave everyone a journal and challenged them to live the next 30 days as if they were their last, and to write down what happened.

The Shooks write, "The results were nothing less than life changing! At the end of the 30 days, we all had a greater clarity of purpose and a renewed passion for the things that really matter. Many people did big, once-in-a-lifetime things, like going on a dream vacation to Hawaii with their spouse, finally getting serious about a healthy lifestyle and losing 25 pounds, or reconciling a relationship with a parent that had been neglected for years." They went ahead and did things they were meaning to do – someday.

They said that countless people in every stage of life say things such as: "Someday I’m going to go for all that life has to offer." "When I retire, then I’m going to enjoy life." "When I make enough money, then I’m really going to spend more time with my kids."

We all have things we want to do and experience, things that we’ll do when we have the time, when conditions are better or when we get caught up. But in reality, how often does that "someday" come?

All too often, I’ve noticed that "someday" is "ne’er-to-come" day. "Someday. One day. When. If. Then it’s over. When are we going to wake up and realize this is your life, right here, right now? Someday is right now."

Reading that this life is my "someday" and realizing that someday is right now really jolted me.

How true it is what the authors write, that the Someday Syndrome mind-set robs us. "Someday, when whatever we’re looking for happens, then we’ll start living. When everything settles down someday, then we can savor life. But things won’t settle down. Once we attain what we think we want – more money, a less hectic schedule, the right job – we’ll soon realize that it doesn’t fulfill us, and we’ll begin looking for the next big thing."

The Shooks also said, "In what area of your life are you suffering from the Someday Syndrome? Make a decision today never again to use the phrase ‘someday, when things settle down.’ Realize that today is your someday!"

If you’re waiting until "someday" to really enjoy life, I encourage you to wait no longer and, in the midst of your circumstances, live life as fully as you can today. It will be time well spent.

See you in two weeks.