(
Another rerun. I'll get on the ball soon, I promise!)The Princess Bride is one of our family's all time favorite movies. My toddlers could quote whole scenes before they could read.
One of the most memorable lines from the movie is when Montoya rehearses what he'll say when he finally finds the six-fingered man. He's lived for this moment and dreams of facing his enemy to tell him "...you killed my father. Prepare to die." He knows that his enemy will have no defense and the outcome is assured.
But how do you prepare to die when a sword is at your throat? It's a little late for preparation. The time is already over for any last-minute words, final farewells, or righting wrongs.
So how does one prepare to die and is it important?
The first half of our lives is usually spent frantically preparing for the second half. We often don't realize that life is already happening while we're getting ready for it. School, work, hobbies, family--so much clamors for our attention we often don't think past getting that promotion, finding a bigger house, getting the bills paid, and raising the kids.
But in truth, those things are the present, not the future. How much of it is going to count when it's all over? How much time have you spent preparing to die?
When my father was diagnosed with cancer, he was told he had only a few months to live. We took a walk the day he sold his treasured farm. Side by side we strolled across the fields he'd spent a lifetime plowing and harvesting. His long legs had always outpaced mine, but this day, I slowed so he could keep up.
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We stopped at the top of a hill and he turned to me, his breath labored and his face pale. The valley below us was bursting with spring color and although neither of us said it, we both knew that this would be his last spring.
"Does it make you sad?" I asked. "You've sold your farm and everything you've spent your life building. For pennies. You love this farm."
He shook his head and leaned against a tree for support. "Nah," he said with his customary ease and spread his arms wide. "Nah, it's just stuff, you know? Just stuff. None of it matters. Mama will be taken care of and that's all that I care about. No, what matters is what I'm leaving behind that will count for all eternity. What makes me sad is that I still had so much to do for the Lord, and now I can't. But he knows best."
I knew in that moment as I looked at his sunken face that he had not only taught me how to live, my father had taught me how to die.
Preparing to die doesn't happen in the moments before you leave earth. It's a lifelong preparation and to do it well, you have to start early. My father had spent most of his adult life preparing to die by the way he lived. His celebration in Heaven is that much more joyous because of what he'd sent on ahead.
How much of your life has been spent preparing to die? If you know Jesus Christ as Savior, you know where you're going. But will it be like going home? Or will you feel like stranger showing up at someone else's house? I've come to believe that our relationship with God on earth has great impact on our future in Heaven.
Montoya's words are a reminder to us that we have the opportunity every day to prepare to die. What will you take with you? What will you leave behind that will continue to count for eternity? Or has your life been a collection of "stuff" that won't matter the moment you take your last breath?
God has the right to look at each of us and say, "You killed my Son. Prepare to die." But He graciously gives us so many chances to prepare ourselves before that final accounting. Is your life bringing Him glory now, or is that for "some day?" Have you learned to seek him now or are you waiting for some vague point in the future when it will be more convenient?
You've been given the opportunity to prepare to die. Don't waste it.
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