What If Death Comes Knocking?

Life is a queue of death and every being is in this queue. Immediately one is born, they join this queue awaiting their turn to be served by death. Death is a delicacy everyone will taste once in their lifetime— regardless of how rich or poor they are. We are all born to die because the ultimate fate of life is death.

Death crowns life. The goal of life is death. When it has all been said and done, death is a reward every man or woman is waiting for. Like a football match, death is the scoreline. It is what everyone is looking out for. Like a race, death is the finishing line. All the fun comes to an end when it is reached.

Our daily lives should reflect our preparedness for death. If we live as though we have eternity to ourselves, we won’t maximize our stay here on earth.

When death comes knocking, would you be sleeping on your dreams? When it comes banging at your door, will you ask for another chance to live all those dreams you have postponed? What if death happens today? Would you have lived your dreams to their fullest? While life reminds us that our dreams have start lines, death reminds us that those dreams have deadlines.

Our dreams have an expiry day. Our death day is that expiry day. A day will come when we can’t chase those dreams anymore. A day will come that there will be no more space for excuses. When death happens, what will become of our dreams and all the greatness within which we never made the world experience? Each morning is an opportunity to stand up and be counted.

Should death coming knocking today, would you have been at peace with your family? Would you rest in peace indeed when you were at loggerheads with your wife and children? If you should pass on today, will you be passing on a baton of quarrel and bitterness? What if death comes knocking tonight? Can your neighbors genuinely attest to the fact that you were a woman of peace? Our stay here on earth is for a short while. Make it worthwhile.

No one will live for eternity on earth so treat others with utmost respect. Life is like a position or title. It is temporary. There is only little time in this life. Even if one will live for a century, it will soon be here. We can’t spend our little time on earth fighting people. Life is too short to begrudge others for offences we could have easily forgiven them. When there is no life, there is no one to hold grudges against. Maximize your time here on earth.

When death comes knocking, would you have been prepared enough? Would you have saved enough for the future of your children? Will life without you be a hell for your wife and children? What will happen to your family when death happens to you? Will they have to mourn for the rest of their lives because you spent all your wealth on liabilities and not assets?

Life is great for you now but that means nothing if life without you will be unbearable for your family tomorrow. How well our lives were lived will be measured by how comfortably our family will live, especially in our absence. Our worthiness is not in how flashy our lifestyles are today but how secure the life of our family will be tomorrow.

Ponder. If death comes knocking, would you have made enough impact or your life would have been centered around only you? Would you have mentored people whose lives would have wasted without you? Would you have poured out yourself into empty vessels?

Life’s greatest investment is people investment. On your death bed, can we count those you directly and indirectly invested in? When life’s curtain has closed down on you, will there be another to continue your race? Will your legacy come to an end because your life did?

When death comes, would you have been at peace with your heavenly father? Would you have been saved? After making a great name for yourself on earth, will your name be in the Book of Life? After making it on the list of eminent people on earth, would you make it to the list of selected people in heaven? When it has all been said and done, the possessions that matter are not those we will leave on earth but those we will leave in the hearts of those we impacted.

This life is all we will ever have. Before our expiry date comes, we should remember to live each day to its maximum and give others the opportunity to do same. We ought to be good to as many people as possible. Tomorrow is a promise that may never be fulfilled. Should death come knocking today, may we never regret withholding good from those it was due.

My name is Kobina Ansah and I don’t know if I will live to see tomorrow. While I can, however, I will see to it that I live today. If death comes knocking, I know I did my best and worked on my worst. I know I did my best to serve both divinity and humanity. This is not a tribute to death. It is a toast of life.

Kobina Ansah is a Ghanaian playwright and Chief Scribe of Scribe Communications ( www.scribecommltd.com ), an Accra-based writing firm. His new play is “Emergency Wedding”.