Last weekend, we met up with some friends to sing hymns for an older couple from our church. The husband had been diagnosed with cancer, but I didn’t realize he was so close to the end. He passed away a few days later. When I heard the news I was so thankful we stopped to visit. Although we were only there half an hour, it was long enough to show Hey, we care about you (but we don’t want to tire you out with the expectation of having to entertain.)

I know I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: we need more To Love lists.

We have To Do lists:

Pay the bills

Take out the trash

Return books to the library

Declutter that corner (again)

But the moment those tasks are on the calendar, it seems to justify our refusal of other priorities:

Meet someone for coffee

Send an encouraging note

Text that friend to let them know you’re thinking about them

Invite someone over for dinner

Embrace the impromptu visitor, even if you only have a moment and are about to head out the door.

Sometimes people seem secondary to tasks because we imagine the opportunity to reach out will always be there, but it’s not.

There’s an old poem reminding young mothers

“The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow

But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.”

Perhaps we’d be wise to remember, people, in general, don’t keep. Life is not guaranteed.

Today is the only day we’ll ever get to love the people around us. Why? Because by the time tomorrow rolls around, we will call it Today and that’s the ridiculous thing about the future, it never arrives. We only ever get to live in the present moment.

So who will you love today? We can’t do everything, but we can do something and that small something could turn out to be a lifeline in disguise.