Making the Most of Mulligans

by Todd Walker

This week I took Dirt Road Girl for her second 3 month MRI and scans. We got home, ate dinner, and talked.

 

Image credit

In the waiting room where survivors in hospital gowns wait their turn to slide into a cold steel tube as they pray for good news, DRG relayed to me her conversation with a seasoned citizen waiting for her turn.

The brave grandmother’s story reopened deep wounds in me I thought had healed. The fear of losing my best friend, my love was ripped open again. The fear of being alone, broken. These feelings never really go away permanently.

We all die eventually. We just don’t like to think about it. The last year and a half forced us to think about the greatest of unknowns. The one passage we go through where we don’t get to tell the story.

So how do we prepare for this part of our journey where no one gets out alive? There’s no stopping the physical body from wearing out. We can only prolong its eventual demise.

But sometimes, unexpectedly, we get second chances. A do over. A life mulligan, if you will.

Back when I played golf, my buddies and I would give each other a second chance to make a better shot. That errant tee shot that flew into the kudzu was chalked up to sudden wind gusts or too much beer. The hacker was shown grace and given a second shot to demonstrate his skills. We all need second chances, right?

Papa, out of the deep goodness of His own heart and love, has given DRG and our family a beautiful, unexpected mulligan. I don’t pretend to understand the ‘why’ behind His reasoning.

Even Lazarus eventually died after Jesus granted him a mulligan. So will we. But DRG and I are going to keep doing the stuff to make the best of ours.

If you were given only a 2% chance of living past you’re next birthday, but someone intervenes and gives you a second chance at life, what would you do? How would a mulligan change your life? Your outlook? Your relationships? Your preparedness plans?….

The main thing Papa has taught us over the last year is to live in today, prep for tomorrow, and be generous in your own distribution of mulligans. Break the rules and give more than one deserves.

Keep doing the stuff,

Todd