The title is a line from William Wallace in the 1995 film, ‘Brave Heart’. The late Dr Edward Stieglitz, an expert on high blood pressure, geriatric medicine and a leading authority on old age and its problems said something similar, “In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years”.
As one writer on the ‘MagicalQuote’ site put it, ‘We count days like currency. We hoard them. Protect them. Obsess over them. But Stieglitz knew the secret: duration doesn’t equal depth. You can exist for 90 years and never truly live. Or you can live more in 40 years than most do in a century’.
Take for instance, Howard Hughes who died at 70. Once the most famous man in America – aviator, aerospace engineer, filmmaker, billionaire industrialist – his final 20 years were consumed by severe obsessive-compulsive disorder and drug addiction. He lived in isolation inside darkened luxury hotel suites, naked, unwashed, refusing to cut his hair or nails, watching the same movies on a loop, paralyzed by germs and codeine. He communicated only through a small circle of aides bound by strict handling protocols. Despite his vast wealth, Hughes died of kidney failure, emaciated and completely alone.
In stark contrast, Canadian songwriter, worship leader, Brian Doerksen passed away peacefully in his sleep last Tuesday week (21 July), aged 60 after a brief battle with cancer. He wrote some of modern worship’s most enduring songs – ‘Refiner’s Fire’, ‘Come, Now Is The Time To Worship’, ‘Faithful One’ and ‘Jesus, Hope Of The Nations’ – sung in churches worldwide.
He is survived by his wife of 38 years, four adult daughters and two adult sons with Fragile X Syndrome. One tribute captures him well: “Those who knew him speak of a man marked by humility, kindness, generosity and deep faith…He was a worshipper before he was a song writer, and his life reflected the One he so faithfully sang about”. Paul Baloche, another well-known songwriter and worship leader added, “Goodbye, Friend. Love you Brian. Will miss you on this earth. As you reminded us, ‘One day every tongue will confess you are God. One day every knee will bow. Still the greatest treasure remains for those who gladly choose you now’…You taught me much about lament through your words, your songs, and your life. Thank you for Refiner’s Fire, Light the Fire Again, and a hundred more songs that pointed us all to Jesus” (Check out his final interview).
I’ll close with a line wrongly attributed to Mark Twain but written by Edward Abbey, “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time”
Let us live fully for the Lord!
Mark
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