A Life That Makes a Difference
“Lord teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
By Kristine Kruszelnicki

Every summer, like millions of children in my generation, I was whisked away to summer camp while my parents enjoyed a week and a half of peaceful bliss.

Summer camp was filled with an endless array of memories: the food, the counsellors, the games, and yes, even that occasional trip to the head counsellor for misbehaving. But of all the memories I’ve carried with me, the one that touched me most was of a little poster that was taped to the back of the door of my cabin one summer.

The poster bore the picture of a road stretching out into the distance. A traveller could faintly be seen walking on that road with an endless stretch of road behind him. I read the words on this poster so many times, they are forever etched on my memory:

“Through this toilsome world, alas
Once and only once I pass
If a kindness I may show
If a good deed I may do
To my suffering fellow man
Let me do it while I can
No delay, for it is plain
I shall not pass this way again.”

The last phrase was the one that moved me most: “No delay for it is plain I shall not pass this way again.” The words instilled in me the urgency of our time on earth. They rung true the Bible verse in James 4:14 “For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

I realized even then, as a young child, how important it was to make the most out of the short time we have been given to live. Millions of people have been born, lived, and died, and all that is left of their existence is the influence they had on people and that which they passed on to future generations.

Spiritually speaking, their market is closed. Whatever they have stored up for eternity, be it good or bad, has been tallied. There are no more days to turn to God and to bring Him glory on earth. No more days to be His salt and light, no more crowns to store up for heaven, no more lives to touch. It’s over. They’ve walked their road, however long that was, and for better or for worse, there is no going back.

With that knowledge I strive to live each day of my life as though it were my last. For it could be. I want to make it count. If there is a life that I can touch, if there is a friend that I can encourage, if there is wise counsel I can share, I must do it because I may not get another chance. When my Christian friend Angela Tong was murdered at the young age of 22, I was reminded again that we are not guaranteed tomorrow.

The awareness of this reality brings one to ask: how then shall I live today? I always like imagining myself at the end of my life and looking back on the things I have accomplished.

When I stand in heaven and God is looking over what I’ve done for Him, I’m sure it will matter little that my room or house wasn’t always clean; but it will matter that I opened up my home to receive people into it and that my friendship touched their lives.

I’m sure it will matter little if I never get an impressive university degree or a high-paying job; but it will matter that I chose to work in a field where I could touch lives and even save them.

It will matter little that I wasn’t rich, but it will matter that I shared what I had with those in need.

Degrees, diplomas, and prestigious jobs, and even becoming famous, in the scope of eternity mean nothing. The degrees gather dust in a descendant’s basement, best sellers and CDs go out of style, the money I’ve earned will be passed on to others. What really lasts is the difference I have made in people’s lives.

That is why I am a pro-life apologist. Because abortion is about people — unborn people and their parents, born people. I want to show God’s love to these people because they matter to God. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) while all of us today were yet unborn. If I am to obey Jesus’ commandment to love my neighbour as myself (Mark 12:31), then I must speak for the unborn who cannot speak for themselves (Proverbs 31:8). I must speak to their parents whose lives will be spiritually wounded by abortion. It would be most unloving of me to stand back and let them wound themselves and destroy their children.

If I have helped save one child’s life, I have changed the world. If I have helped change one person’s mind who in turn may touch other lives, like a ripple in the water, I have made a difference.

And I must strive to make that difference today, while I still can. For, like the millions before me, I know that I, too, “shall not pass this way again.”

Kristine Kruszelnicki is a 24-year old writer from Ottawa. Since 1999, she has been an executive member of Ottawa Youth for Life, an organization which she helped found. She is currently studying Early Childhood Education and plans to pursue full time pro-life advocacy upon graduation.