“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.”

Og Mandino

 

When I first read this passage I actually began to cry…not because the words themselves made Me sad but because I was in a very angry space, angry with a woman that I have never even laid eyes on before.  So angry with her for hurting Me (and likely having no idea of the distress she has caused and continues to cause Me) and hurting someone that I love so dearly!

 

It was not even 10 minutes before reading Og’s inspiring words that I called her the “C” word nearly under My breath, but not quite that quietly.  When it comes to anger, this is NOT a word you’ll hear Me utter!  So I know that I was pissed and greatly hurting!!!

 

And then I thought,  what if she were going to be dead by midnight?!?   I would feel SO awful just knowing how much anger there is in My heart.  And it certainly wouldn’t be easy to treat her (even if only in My mind) with care, kindness, and understanding!!!  BUT, taking the “high road” I’ve found often isn’t!!

 

So, just imagine if we all were to really do this?!?  How unbelievable would it be?!?  I honestly think that most of us would be greatly challenged by this endeavor!  Clearly I shared in this instance I certainly would be!  But, what if we tried it for just a day??  Or perhaps for a week even??  But Og say’s beginning today…not for a day, not for a week, not for month, but starting now and for the rest of your life!!

 

I think we would need to be SO incredibly thoughtful…SO incredibly present in our body and our mind to follow his words in the manner is which they are truly meant.  How powerful they are!!

 

But…if you did know…if you had that crystal ball to know the future…and it told you that your colleague,  or your friend,  or your brother, or your aunt, or even the woman that sat next to you last week on the plane was going to be dead by midnight…you might just conduct yourself a little bit differently.  Am I right???

 

I can only imagine that Mr. Mandino is right…our lives would never be the same again!