“She’s living on borrowed time.” That’s the conclusion a friend shared with me in a pensive moment. He was referring to his wife’s recent bout with cancer.
His remark caught me off guard because his wife has been cleared of any cancer. Surgery removed every hint of it—and no chemo or radiation was required. She’s in great health now, with no significant medical problems of any kind.
“The truth is, we’re all living on borrowed time,” said my friend—reading the curious look on my face. I thought about his statement quite a while. He’s right.
We’re all living on borrowed time—every one of us. The tragedy is, we simply don’t see it that way. The fact that you and I might have racked up years of sickness-free living, decades of hospital-free health…does nothing to alter the harsh reality that we are all living on borrowed time. (:55)
All it takes is…
One distracted glance on a truck-laden highway…
One unlikely fall off a ladder…
One x-ray at the doctor’s office….
And suddenly, the sheer frailty of the slender thread we call life…is seen for what it really is.
The oddity is that we have all peered through the lens of someone else’s tragedy and seen how fine and fragile that thread actually is. Yet we come away from such a view, stuff our hands in our pockets…and still feel comfortable criticizing a spouse. Or not forgiving a friend. Or withholding love from someone desperate for a drop.
The truth is, we DON’T have time. We DON’T have time to criticize our spouse. We DON’T have time to not forgive a friend. We DON’T have time to withhold love.
We are living on borrowed time. James 4:14, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”
It’s time we understood “our” time—whatever of it may be left to us—is truly borrowed time.