How often I say the words “life changes in the space between one heartbeat and the next.” Many, if not all of us, have learned the truth of those words. We learn that truth in pain, in grief, in trauma. We struggle to accept the reality of loss, battling between our rational mind that knows the truth and our emotions which say “But I just—,” unable to grasp that those moments, those interactions will never come again.

When my brother died, I remember thinking, over and over, that I had just talked with him, that we had made plans, that we were going to be together in just a matter of a few weeks. I could hear his voice on the phone and I could not make myself understand that I would never hear it again.

I know that lesson, I repeat that lesson and I know what it means, what it should mean, that we should seize the moment, that we should stop putting off the things that are important to us, the things we want to do and achieve in our lives.

It is so easy to distract ourselves, to procrastinate, to put off the things we need to do. Maybe it is repairing a relationship that we have damaged or making time for family and friends. Maybe it is work that we are called to do that we are postponing for any one of a number of reasons.

All we have is this moment. All we know for sure is right now. We lull ourselves into believing that time is unlimited, that there will always be tomorrow but what if tomorrow never comes? What if our life is completely different tomorrow and we can no longer do all the things that we are now take for granted?

The words are easy to say, the knowledge that, truly, life can change in a blink is incontrovertible. But what matters is what we do with that knowledge. Do we continue to pretend that life is in our control or do we make the most of every minute, do we do the things we have put off, do we take the actions that might scare us? Holding onto the precious nature of every moment will allow us, enable us, empower us to fill our full hearts.