It was a rainy day. I was driving down a lonely, little, back road. I hadn’t seen another car in ten minutes. I rounded a curve and saw in the straight ahead a crow sitting in the middle of my lane. His head bent down and I saw he was eating a dead deer that had been hit by a car. I stopped my car, put on my emergency blinkers even though no one else was nearby and got out of my car. I walked over to the dead deer. He was a big guy and took up most of my side of the road. I didn’t want another car to hit him or have to swerve into the other lane because of him so I grabbed a front hoof with one hand and a back hoof with the other. I gently pulled him into the grass on the side of the road so the crow clean up crew could do their job without being in danger too. Then I wiped the blood from my hands in the wet grass, got back in my car, and drove on.

That dead deer stayed in my mind, however. I am sure that when he started his day he didn’t think he would end it by being food for scavengers. I am sure he was expecting another peaceful day of grazing in the grass in the fields by the road and drinking from the river on the other side of it. He didn’t realize that in crossing that road he would be in the wrong place at the wrong time and it would be the end of his life.

This reminded me too that the same is true for all of us. We never know which day of our lives will be our last. We never know how long we will have here. We never know how many more chances we will have to share our love with others. God only guarantees us today.

Don’t waste a day of your life here. Make this lonely road of life a little less lonely by sharing your love, your laughter, your kindness, and your joy with everyone you meet. Fill each day you have with hugs, helpfulness, and happiness. Make Heaven sing by being the very best you, you can be. Then when your last day does come you can greet God with open arms and a full heart.