When It’s the Last Time
“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
— Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
As we grow older, our priorities change. Our bodies change. Our lives change. Our children grow up, and our parents grow old. We start to feel the aches and pains that remind us we are not as young as we once were.
The things we thought were most important begin to shift. When we are young, our focus is often on the here and now: chasing careers, building houses, filling bank accounts, or planning for retirement. Some of us are so focused on preparing for the future that we miss the very moments that matter most—the laughter of children, the warmth of community, the fellowship of our church family, and most importantly, the growth of our faith.
Then one day, we wake up in midlife and wonder, Where did the years go? We look back and ask ourselves: When was the last time I held my child on my lap? When was the last time my little girl, now twenty, reached up and asked me to carry her?
There comes a day when you change the last diaper. When you kiss the last scraped knee. When you pick up your child for the last time. The hard part is, you don’t realize in that moment that it is the last time.
But it’s not only with our children. One day, you have the last phone call with a loved one. The last time you hear their voice on the other end of the line. One day, you wave goodbye to someone walking out the door, not knowing it will be the last time you’ll ever see them. One day, you hug someone close, never realizing it’s the final embrace this side of heaven.
If you had known, what would you have done differently? Would you have held them just a little longer? Stayed on the phone another five minutes? Said “I love you” one more time? Would you have looked them in the eyes as you waved goodbye, just to etch that moment in your memory forever?
The truth is, life doesn’t give us warning labels for the “lasts.” They slip by quietly, and only later do we realize how precious they were. Yet Scripture reminds us that we are to “number our days,” to live with the awareness that time is fleeting. Wisdom is found not in worrying about tomorrow or regretting yesterday, but in treasuring the people and moments God has placed in our lives today.
If what you know now you had known then—how much would you have slowed down? How much more would you have loved, forgiven, and invested in relationships instead of always pressing forward?
The call of Christ is not to chase after the wind but to anchor our days in what endures—faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love (1 Corinthians 13:13).
Prayer
Father,
Teach me to treasure each moment You give me.
Help me to see the value in the small things—
the laughter, the hugs, the quiet talks,
the phone calls, the goodbyes, the fleeting opportunities to love well.
Forgive me for the times I’ve rushed past what mattered most.
Give me wisdom to number my days,
so that I may leave behind not regret,
but a legacy of faith and love.
In Christ’s name, Amen.
Takeaway
Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize how precious the “last times” are—choose today to love deeply and invest in what matters most.
Justin Edwards
Founder ICUmissions.ORG
ICUMissions.org@gmail.com
