It is early in the morning as you sit down with pen and paper. Composing on a computer won’t do. You want these words to flow straight from your heart, personalized with your distinct handwriting. The end of your life is near, and you write knowing that you are expressing your last thoughts. What would you write in that letter? Here is what Peter writes in his final letter.

2 Peter 1:12-14
Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

Peter’s second letter is his ending message. For all we know, he had already been crucified in Rome by the time this letter reached the believers scattered throughout five Roman provinces that make up present-day northern Turkey. Notice from today’s passage that Peter was not introducing new thoughts. The directives he wrote in his concluding words are the same ones he proclaimed and practiced throughout his life. I find that very instructive.

The content of our last letter should not be new material. “Oh, I never knew he believed that” or “I never knew she felt that way” are not responses we desire. Our final words should remind those we love of the things we have been telling them and showing them all along. The last letter is simply to refresh their memory. The content is being written today by our words and actions.

Father, remind me that what I do today impacts tomorrow. Help me share every day the things I would want to remind my loved ones of in a last letter. In Jesus’ name. Amen.