What Really Matters?

I admit, I’m a slow learner. Not only slow, but I have this terrible tendency to have to relearn the same lessons over and over again before they finally stick in my little brain..

If you are a regular reader of this blog, and ever follow any of its church links, then I am sure that you are aware of the great religious debate that’s been rearing its ugly head and grinding its crooked teeth over the last week. I was hooked.

I spent (wasted) a lot of time thinking about the arguments, and being appalled by some of the arguers. So much so, that I even spent my break time at work on the computer answering and arguing and becoming one of the worst offenders.

I was right in the middle of typing a brilliant, impassioned, indisputable counter point when it happened. The monitor behind me started to alarm. I had been expecting it.

We had, to put it in layman’s terms, “pulled the plug” on a terminally ill patient earlier in my shift. I was on “death watch”. My job was to monitor the patient and keep them as comfortable as possible until their last breath. The alarm told me that their last breath was very close.

The patient had been unresponsive most of my shift. There was no opportunity for final words or last conversations. The family was one hour away, and this poor soul only had 20 minutes. So it was just me and him.

As I stood by his bed with my hand on his shoulder, I wondered; if I could talk to this fellow one last time, and talk about the things that really matter, what would we talk about?

I know that we would talk about love, family, God, an empty tomb, the promise of eternal life, and the wonderful gift of grace that Jesus purchased for us by his sacrifice on the cross.
I am sure that we would talk about regrets, then forgiveness, and finally, peace - eternal peace.

It made the rest seem so small. It made the religious arguments over just “how to do church” seem almost sacrilegious and sinful.

So the next time I get sucked into my favorite vice (arguing over religion) I plan on applying the “death watch” test to my replies. Does this really matter? Is it important enough to include in someone’s last conversation? If not, I’m going to try my best to, in the words of Paul (McCartney) Let it Be..