“I Absolutely Love You.”
“Jules, this is Brian. Listen, I’m on a plane that’s been hijacked. If things don’t go well, and it’s not looking good, I just want you to know I absolutely love you. I want you to do good, go have good times. Same to my parents and everybody. And I just totally love you, and I’ll see you when you get there.” – Brian Sweeney
Every year on September 11, I reread these words that Brian Sweeney left in a phone message to his wife Julie, and my heart just breaks. This one message epitomizes the tragedy of evil appearing to prevail and the triumph of love and hope flowing from a heart of courage.
Brian was a passenger on United Airlines Flight 175, a plane that was overtaken by hijackers and flown into the South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.
Two hundred and sixty-five passengers and crew members across the country boarded flights early that morning, eager to get home to loved ones. Not one of them made it.
Still, in the deadliest act of terrorism in history that claimed a total of 2,977 lives, some of the victims were able to contact or leave messages for loved ones in their final moments.
Brian was one of those. His message is perhaps most poignant because even in the intensity of the moment, he had the presence of mind to calmly express his love for his wife and family. He had a clear understanding that his life was about to end, and yet he desired above all else that the most important person in his life know she had his blessing to move forward and to live a good life.
In an interview following 9/11, Julie Sweeney described Brian’s message as “very powerful.” She said he “very selflessly” left the message containing “his final way to let me know that he was gonna be okay…The calmness in his voice soothed me.”
Countless moments before and since 9/11 give us all pause as we consider the darkness that exists in this world, just how precious life is, and the value of ensuring that our loved ones have no doubts whatsoever about our devotion and commitment to them.
Psalm 139:16 says, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” There will be a day when each of us “walks through the valley of the shadow of death,” and only the Father is privy to when that day will be.
Not knowing when we’ll be called home, let’s do better than live like it’s our last day. Let’s love like it’s our last day. Make the call. Give the hug, and don’t hurry to end it. Send the flowers. Take responsibility, and apologize. Make the first move.
Let’s ask God to “teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Let’s ask Him to help us be mindful of the brevity of our lives as James reminds us in James 4:14: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
If we absolutely love someone, let’s absolutely tell them. Let’s use the moments we have to love others as Jesus loves them and defeat the darkness with His marvelous light.
