Walk in the Morning in Case You Die in the Afternoon

I went for a walk yesterday morning. Not because I’m disciplined or enlightened, but because—well—what if I die this afternoon?

I’m not trying to be dramatic (though I’ve been known to indulge). It’s just that priorities get weird when you suddenly remember you’re mortal. With that in mind, does the argument I almost started with myself over some none consequential matter still feel important? The emails I didn’t answer? Not as urgent. The book I didn’t read? Probably not the defining legacy of my existence.

So I walked.

Not for exercise.

Not for steps on an app.

Just to enjoy being alive.

It’s part of my new “keep it simple” plan.

Gratitude is the great equalizer. We can get so caught up in the meaningless things that we forget everything we have to be thankful for in our lives.

During my walk the sky didn’t do anything spectacular. There was no cinematic sunrise or profound metaphor hidden in the clouds. I passed a man talking to himself. There goes future me, I chuckled. A feral cat judged me from a fence post. I survived both encounters. Imagine that.

We tend to fill up our days with stuff that seems urgent but isn’t. We save joy for later, assuming there’ll be a “later” waiting politely for us. What if the most sacred thing you’ll do today is take a walk? Not because it feels productive, but because you noticed the world existed—and you wanted to experience existing in it.

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

James 4:13-14 ESV

So yeah. Walk in the morning.

In case you die in the afternoon.

Or worse—

In case you don’t, and you wasted the morning. Whatever that thing is keeping you from doing it will wait. I promise.

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What’s one simple thing you’d regret not doing if today was your last?

Until my next post…

Grace and peace,

Rainer Bantau —The Devotional Guy™

After wearing many different hats throughout his career, Rainer serves as the Senior Operations Manager at OurCalling, Inc., a Dallas-based homeless outreach helping the chronically homeless find a way off the streets and into a deeper relationship with Jesus. Since committing his life to Jesus in 2007, Rainer has had the privilege of teaching and preaching in many different churches in the Dallas area.