The Last Time

by Jill Maidhof

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but today I helped myself to a small swig. I was preparing to teach 6^th – 8^th graders, and those kids* are fast. They talk fast, they think fast and they’re quick to challenge or try to outwit me. I love it all — I just needed a little fortification.

We’re exploring Aseret HaDibrot—The Ten Commandments or more correctly the Ten Statements — and this morning we discussed number six:  Do not murder.  After we determined that none of us are or should become serial killers, we watched a  short video focusing less on the prohibition and more on the positive mandate to nurture life. One of the ideas was to engage in a meditation called “the last time.” 

Our lives are filled with many final experiences...

Our lives are filled with many final experiences: the last time our children demanded a bedtime story, our young adults spent the night in their childhood bedroom; the last time we saw a well-loved relative or shared a meal with a dear friend. Some transitions were anticipated and the result of careful planning, but how many more were acknowledged in retrospect? How many more made us wish we’d been more attentive, asked more questions, shown more patience. If only we’d considered the possibility that we may not have another opportunity.

The video urges us to appreciate our people, our surroundings and our abilities more fully by bringing that possibility to mind. We should say to ourselves, “This may be the last time that I [fill in the blank]. How would I act if that were the case?” 

One never knows, after all, and even at their age (They’ve been on the planet for just over ten years, for goodness sake!) my students got it. They remembered when a grandparent died unexpectedly, and talked about friends they no longer have the opportunity to see. They didn’t know, they didn’t say what they would have, they were careless. 

It struck me that if these very young ones relate to the Last Time Meditation, how much more should those of us who have experienced decades and decades of change?

So in the spirit of the six commandment, I invite you to nurture life. Carpe diem — resolve to seize every day of this brand new year!! Give whoever you’re with and whatever you’re doing full and loving attention today so that you suffer no regrets tomorrow.

*(apologies if the term offends you. I use it endearingly)