SUPPOSE 2009 WAS THE LAST YEAR OF YOUR LIFE. How would you spend it? That’s a very good question, don’t you think? Apparently The Baltimore Sun thought so. Some time back they conducted a contest in which they offered a prize for the best answer to the question, “What would you do if you had one more year to live?” Mary Davis Reed submitted a poem which won the prize! I share it with you now as we are about to step across the threshold of a New Year.

“If I had one year to live;
One year to help, one year to give;
One year to love, one year to bless;
One year of better things to stress;
One year to sing, one year to smile;
To brighten earth a little while;
One year to sing my Maker’s praise;
One year to fill with work my days;
One year to strive for a reward
When I should stand before my Lord.

I think that I would spend each day,
In just the very self-same way
That I do now. For from afar
The call may come across the bar
At any time and I must be
Prepared to meet eternity.

So if I have a year to live,
Or just one day in which to give
A pleasant smile, a helping hand,
A mind that tries to understand
A fellow creature when in need;
‘Tis one with me—I take no heed.
But try to live each day He sends
To serve my gracious Master’s ends.”

Thank you Mary! Thank you for looking ahead so selflessly and for calling us to acts of service and kindness. You never can tell what opportunities for doing good will present themselves in the days ahead---like the young man who was a “bagger” at a grocery store. He was returning from the parking lot when he noticed a woman who was loading her groceries into her car. She placed one package on top of the car while she loaded the rest inside. But as she got in, started up her car and began to drive away, the young man saw that she had forgotten to retrieve the package she’d placed on the roof. Now he was closer to the car and he began to run after her. When she made a turn to exit the parking lot the package on the roof rolled off. Fortunately, the young man caught the package---a baby---just before it hit the pavement!

Expect opportunities to surface in the year ahead. Seize them when they do. Make it your aim to be a blessing to others and see what a wonderful, rewarding journey it will be.