Last Lecture

I’m feeling a bit melancholy today. My grandmother had a heart attack this week and the news our family received yesterday about her treatment and prognosis wasn’t as positive as we had hoped. She has been in very good health, so these sudden developments have unsettled us. Perhaps the least unsettled, however, is my grandmother.

As my sister tearfully updated me last night over the phone, I asked her how our dad was doing. She said that it has been tough for him at times, but that grandma seemed to be doing better than anyone else. In fact, she seemed more concerned with us than she was with her own health. “I’m not afraid” she told my sister and dad last night.

We honestly don’t know when we will have to say goodbye to her. But we have been given a painful reminder that we will have to do so someday. While we may have a long time with her yet, today we are reeling as we consider how temporary life really is.

And then there is this video clip a friend of mine sent this week. I hesitate to post it because I don’t think much of Oprah, honestly. But Professor Randy Pausch gave his “last lecture” at Carnegie Mellon some time ago, and he reprised it on Oprah’s show. You can watch the entire last lecture here, though it is over an hour long and I have yet to watch all of it myself. This reprise is powerful and inspirational. And I am moved as I listen to him explain his motivation for giving the lecture (at the very end of the clip).

Yet, I have mixed emotions about it. While it is about as good as it gets – it is still missing Jesus. And what an awful, sad, glaring omission. Life is not worth living, nor can we face death with integrity, without Jesus.

May we all remember how short and precious life is and draw nearer to Jesus along the way.