What’s your mission in life? Do you have a set of goals or priorities-some kind of plan? Do you ever feel you have so much on your plate that it’s hard to stay focused on what matters most in life?

I told a buddy of mine that I was going to preach an Easter sermon on the last three words of Jesus before he died: “It is finished,” from John 19:30. He asked, “How are you going to talk for fifteen minutes on three words?”

I told my buddy how when I was a kid, I heard that Bible passage and thought Jesus meant, “It is finished” like it was a downer. He must mean, “I am finished,”–a goner, all over. “Wow, what a hopeless way for him to die,” I thought. After I grew up, I went to seminary and studied biblical Greek. I discovered that the Greek word translated as “finished” in fact has more of a sense of completion, such that Jesus probably meant, “It is done, God’s task for me is fulfilled.” That puts a whole different spin on “It is finished,” doesn’t it? My friend agreed.

He then went on to say, “You know, Jesus had it good because God had a plan for him and Jesus just followed God’s clear plan. So, Jesus knew that he had fulfilled God’s plan, and he knew that his task was completed. Compared to us, it was easy for Jesus to say, ‘It is finished.’” My friend then turned to me and said, “What about me?” Does God have a plan for me? I don’t know what it is.”

I started to think about that. How many of us during our time on earth are actually living the plan that God has for us? In fact, how many of us are working on any kind of plan at all, while we are here on earth?

I invite you to play a little game with me. I call it the Rocking Chair Game.

Imagine for a moment that you are sitting in a rocking chair on an old, comfortable, wooden porch in one of those big southern-style homes. It is a beautiful summer evening-nice and warm with a little breeze blowing and you are sitting in that rocking chair, at the ripe age of one hundred years old.

Close your eyes and try to picture that. There you are, one hundred years old, sitting in the rocking chair with a cold glass of lemonade in your hand. Little drops of condensation slide down the side of the glass and you can smell the lemon citrus aroma. That’s the smell of summer, isn’t it? There you are, rocking away. You are a hundred years old and you know that you don’t have much time left in your life. You are looking back over your full, long life: the things you have done and the things you have left undone.

What was it that you did? How did you spend your working life during those hundred years? What kind of a contribution did you make through your work? Perhaps you were a volunteer as well: a member of community organizations, Boy Scouts, or something else. In which groups were you active? Where did you contribute in your volunteer life?

As you rock in your chair, looking back over the last hundred years, maybe there are a few things that you know in retrospect you should have gotten around to doing. There may have been things that were important, but not urgent. You never just quite got to them and now, looking back, you wish you had. If you could do it all over again, you would have done those things. What are they? What are your regrets?

Perhaps you had some children and they had grandchildren. How did the relationships go in your family? With whom did you get along well? With whom were things a little uncomfortable? Which are the relationships in your life that nag at you-the ones that went off-track and you now wish you could be at peace about them? You wish that you had time to go back to those people and make things right somehow–take care of business so that you could go to God in peace. Who are those people, and what do you need to say to them?

Here’s the good news. It’s not too late. You are still alive, and there’s still time. You can now go forward with a plan.

How did your time in the rocking chair help you with a new plan? I am wondering what you affirmed during your reflection on your one hundred years. On what issues are you going to redouble your efforts? Where are you already on-track, or perhaps off-track?

Which were the uncomfortable relationships that need a little, shall we say, pre-emptive attention? It may not feel very comfortable to pick up the phone or write a letter, but again the good news is you still have time. Yet, so often in our lives we just get “caught up,” don’t we? We get caught up in what seems to be very urgent although it may not be important. We have many things that are very important to us although they are not urgent. However, we don’t get to them because there is such-and-such going on and I have to be over at this meeting, and I have to take this kid to soccer practice, and I have to close a deal on this house, and I am getting our second home set up for summer vacation, and I am driving to pick somebody up at the airport, and I didn’t see that car coming, and CRASH-oops! He broadsided me and suddenly, I’m dead. Too late! Now, you’re out of time.

But, it doesn’t have to be that way for you and me. I think Jesus sets a good example for us. He was on the cross, about to die, and he could take stock of his life and say, “Yes, it is finished, my work is done, I have fulfilled God’s plan for me.” The question that he leaves for us is how well is our plan unfolding? As long as we are alive, it seems like we will always be alive. However, when our time comes we may not have much warning…

So I invite you to sit down with pen and paper to write out the top three things that struck you when you were drinking lemonade in your rocking chair and looking back on those hundred years. As you write out you plan, consider three main questions:

1) What is a personality trait that I would like to be known for when I’m 100? Would I like to be known as peaceful? Accepting? Unstoppable? Compassionate? What action could I do today that exemplifies this personality trait?

2) What legacy do I want to leave behind after I’m gone? What step can I take today that will set that legacy in motion?

3) What relationship do I need to mend? If I could set aside my pride, who do I need to call right now?

You and I still have time. God offers you a clean slate today, but today is the time for action. We still have the opportunity to prepare, and when our time comes to leave this earth, we have a chance to leave in peace. We have the possibility to look back on our lives and say, “Yes, it is finished, my task is complete. God’s plan for me has been fulfilled.”

I invite you to pray now: “Lord God, help us to get clear on the plan we know you have for us and to make the most of the gift of life you have given to us on earth. We want to look back on our lives in our final moments and say, “Yes, it is finished, my work is complete.” Help us to get clear and follow though on your plan, so you can say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Amen.

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