Book of Lasts

Many parents keep “baby books,” journals that record all of a child’s first things: first tooth, first word, first step, first day of school, First Communion. They’re all memories to treasure.

But there is another collection of memories that are just as precious — call it “Your Child’s Book of Lasts”: the last time you push your child on a swing, the last time the two of you play catch, the last time you rock your child to sleep, the last time you take your child fishing. Most of the time you’re unaware that this will be the last time until you realize one day you that you aren’t doing those things anymore. When you weren’t looking, your child outgrew them. You realize that somewhere back there was the very last time.

Had you known, you would have savoured every one of those moments: you would have lingered a little longer at the swing; you’d have thrown that ball back and forth until your arm was about to fall off; you would have held your child forever.

We tend to live our lives as if there will always be time “later” to do the things our demanding schedules force us to put off: we believe we can always make it up to our loved ones tomorrow or this weekend or during vacation; as soon as this project is done we think we will be able to relax — but another project begins immediately. But as today’s Gospel makes clear, our days are numbered, our time is limited. Like the rich farmer, we can be so self-centred and so self-sufficient that we shut ourselves off from life’s most enriching and important moments. Faith is the constant awareness that life is a journey of discovery of the holy in our midst as we make our way to God’s dwelling place.