John Grisham

The following story was told by best-selling novelist John Grisham:

“One of my best friends in college died when he was 25, just a few years after we had finished Mississippi State University. I was in law school, and he called me one day and wanted to get together. So we had lunch, and he told me he had terminal cancer.

I couldn’t believe it. I asked him, “What do you do when you realize that you are about to die?”

He said, “It’s real simple. You get things right with God, and you spend as much time with those you love as you can. Then you settle up with everybody else.” Then he said, “You know, really you ought to live every day like you have only a few more days to live.”

Grisham says, “That left an impression on me.”

What impressed Grisham should have an impact on us all. Few things impart more wisdom than to face up to the fact that we will all die sooner or later.

The deadly coronavirus pandemic is still infecting many people and taking many lives every day. This tragic calamity should cause us all to consider the brevity of life and the finality of life on earth. And it should cause us to want to live every day to the fullest, loving God and loving people to the best of our ability.

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”—Psalm 90:12.