30 days

The other day my roommate told me about her boyfriend's niece.

She's two.

She had cancer, they thought it was gone, and now it's come back.

And the doctors have given her 30 days to live.


When my roommate told me this my eyes welled up with tears.


30 days.


It got me thinking.
What would you do if you had 30 days to live?

Then I thought about God.

What if he said to us in our pre-earth life,
"You have 78 years..."
"You have 29 years..."
"You have 96 years..."
"You have 45 years..."

"...what will you do?"

Do you think we would answer:

"I will be so annoyed when my waiter makes a mistake."
"I will lose my temper and scream at people I love."

"I will always be right."

"I will be grumpy all day."
"I will make fun of another person because of the way they look."
"I will say unkind things about others."

"I will gossip."

"I will be rude."
"I will be selfish."
"I will get mad."
"I will lie."
"I will cheat."
"I will hate."

I don't know about you, but I don't think any of us planned these activities for our life agenda.

And I will be the first to admit I am certainly guilty of some of these.

Doesn't it all seem ridiculous, the things we worry about?

Such small stupid things we waste time and energy on.

When there are much more important things in this life.

Why is it that we all forget what's important at one time or another?

I think it's all about perspective.

You've heard this before, right?

So have I.

Too soon do I forget and The Man Upstairs reminds me again and again

To cherish life.

Whether you have 30 days or 95 years.

If I had 30 days to live I would...

1. lay on a blanket star gazing on a warm summer's night with a great friend talking about the meaning of life.

2. take an copious amount of pictures of me and people I love.

3. learn a kick-your-butt but beautiful contemporary dance routine.

4. dress up in pretty dresses and slow dance (with a boy, obviously...)

5. see the world as much as I can.

6. eat lots of good food.

7. really like to meet her.

8. go on vacation with my friends.

9. pray and strengthen my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

10. spend time with my family.

(I thought of many more, but these will do for now.)

So let's live like we only have 30 days and seize every opportunity to see the beauty all around us, to love everyone around us, and to cherish the life we are given.

Don't waste time on those other things.

Now, I want to know what you would do if you had 30 days to live.

Please share with me.

And maybe I'll do my first little feature on this blog of mine.

email me your lists at

jaybphoto{at}gmail{dot}com

*photo by me. taken from a bus window in Tuscany, Italy.