My dying breath

Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Psalm 146: 1-2 NLT

I have been thinking of a lot of end of life issues lately. My parents just bought into a retirement community -- complete with nursing home if necessary. In addition, my mother-in-law has been living with us for the last couple of months due to her health issues. And the mother of one of my church members has chosen not to go through dialysis. 

So, I have been focusing on housing and health care.

But the psalm tells me that there are other issues.

We are to sing God’s praises up until we draw our last breath.

How many times do we think of that? We are so focused on our bodies that we forget our spirituality. Our discipleship does not end with retirement or downsizing. 

We are to be faithful until we die.

I guess I have thought about patients with Alzheimer's or dementia. What must their relationship with God be like? Do they pray? Have they forgotten God? Has God forgotten them? 

I am not jumping to the end of my life yet. What all this makes me realize is that I need to do a better job of using each breath to praise God NOW and not wait for forty years in the future.

Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise you, Lord, as long as I live. I will sing praises to my you with my dying breath. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Copyright 2013 Amelia G. Sims