Tomorrow Is Not Promised

I was watching a Facebook Live with Sterling K. Brown (his video archive page is here) that went viral this week.  Sterling plays Randall Pearson on the NBC series This is Us.

So why have nearly two million people viewed a shot-on-his-phone video in a hotel room? Once you see it you realize that it’s because, just like his television character, he showed us something raw and honest and true. An actor who starts crying when he talks about his character is truly invested in his work.

And this is what he said that made him break down, when speaking of the death of his TV character’s father:

“If you have family that you haven’t talked to in a while or friends that you feel that you have gotten out of touch with, then call them up. And let them know how much you love them and how much you care because tomorrow is not promised. It’s not, and you gotta let the people know while they’re here how much they’re appreciated and how much you love them.”

I’ve read those words over and over, and I’m tearing up just typing them out right now.

Tomorrow is not promised.

How much better human beings we would be if we had those words emblazoned on our souls every day.

I remember the last meal my father had. He was dying of kidney failure. He was sitting in his living room, and he was so weak that he was having trouble picking up some sliced grapes and getting them to his mouth, and so I fed them to him. I knew he was near the end, but I didn’t know those grapes were the last meal he would ever have. And I am so grateful for that moment and that memory, and I think why it means so much to me is that feeding him those grapes when he was unable to do it himself was just a simple act of love, the love that I had for him, and how much love that he had for me.

And it’s okay to cry about something like that, it’s okay to let the full weight of that to hit your soul, because it’s powered by love, and love is what makes us alive, and love is what connects us to each other and to God, and this life is just a whisper in eternity, but even as a whisper it is exceedingly precious, and it is a good thing to treasure each and every moment we have with the people that we love, because #tomorrowisnotpromised.

And so I would encourage you today to choose to do some simple acts of love for the people in your life, and share in the comments and in your own social media who you love and who you will not take for granted, for #tomorrowisnotpromised.