When I Expire

Expiration dates are inspirational.

They motivate us to use things up rather than let them waste away.  Without an expiration date your milk would sit stinking in your fridge and you’d have coupons piling up and forgotten.  People tend towards procrastination.  Expiration dates push us towards action.

I like to think that I have an expiration date as well.  It’s a mystery date no one knows but it exists all the same.  It keeps me from wasting myself like a carton of spoiled milk.  I don’t know when I’ll expire but I definitely don’t want to be half full of curdled opportunities when I do.  I want to be an empty carton when I go, fully shared.

Some of us pack a lot of life in a short space while others let the years span blandly by.  Let me have a full and honest life that changes the world around me for the better be it long or short.  Let my hands reach out to those who need them rather than fidget nervously.  Let my eyes truly see the world rather than stare blindly. Let me live boldly, but kindly and wise.

I don’t fear death – that’s just another adventure.  I fear not living.