So I watched a video today that got me thinking… It’s actually a commercial for Schweppes. I’ve put it at the end of this blog, so you can watch it now, or you can watch it afterwards. Your choice.

What beauty may come and go in and through my lifetime? What dreams may fade so quickly, and blessings pass by like a breath? Our time here is short. So very short.

I cannot help but feel that we spend much of our lives in tomorrow. Our minds think towards tomorrow. Our hearts long for tomorrow. Our dreams must live in the tomorrow.

Life will pass by so quickly. While eternity in Heaven is something I long for, I truly feel that there is so much in this life that will really count, eternally speaking. Whether good or bad, the time we spend here on earth will impact our lives for billions of years to come. Should we not relish in the good? Should we not appreciate the bad? Like a paralyzed man lying on a hospital bed, wishing he could again feel his legs, even if all he would be able to feel at that moment is intense pain. The value of those things which impact our lives, regardless of the quality, is beyond measure. What do we give up every day by allowing ourselves to become stressed and impatient?

I’ve come to a point many times in my life, thus far, where I just have to take a day at a time. At first it was merely a way of saying, “I can only handle so much, so I’m not going to think about anything but today”, but now… Now I’m thinking that “taking a day at a time” is more of a way to relish this life. To truly enjoy the life that we’ve been granted. To enjoy the fact that we are, and that we exist. To discover and find pleasure in a single inspiration and exhalation.

I wish I spent more time looking for the beautiful things in this life. I wish I took more time appreciating, in faith, the bad. I wish that we could all regard “thinking about tomorrow” as being silly and unnecessary, even for one day. As the band Switchfoot says,

“This is your life and today is all you’ve got now
Yeah, and today is all you’ll ever have
Don’t close your eyes
Don’t close your eyes” - Switchfoot, This Is Your Life

It’s so funny being human… We have this incredible ability to completely mistake the beauty around us for something which is “normal”, “drab”, and “of little value”. We are skilled at letting life pass us by. We are masters of speed as we go about our day, speeding out the door, running to our car, flying down the highway…

See, this really wouldn’t be an issue to me… I mean, what’s the harm, right? We can just live our lives – there’s no real formula. Heck, maybe God created us to carry stress in our shoulders and headaches in our stressed little minds. The thing is, I think it really has a much greater impact than we realize.

I find it most noticeably in my prayer life. Prayers are often brief. I cut right to the chase. I take little time really just enjoying being here, on earth, sitting in my chair and talking to the Living God. Maybe I need to buy a hammock.

My best prayer times in the last year have been when I take a walk for an hour or two. I turn my phone on silent, and I just talk to God. Sometimes I get side-tracked with my little random thoughts, but it’s much like talking with a friend. I can almost hear God nudging me and saying,

“Tell me what’s on your mind”
“na… it’s just silly..”, I respond.
“no… common. I want to know what you were laughing about”
”God… it’s stupid, can we talk about important stuff? I’m getting embarrassed”
“The only thing you should be embarrassed about is in your thinking I don’t have a sense of humor…”
“oh, God, it’s not tha…”
“…or thinking I don’t care about silly, inconsequential ramblings of your quirky mind”
*silence*
*both of us start laughing*
I say, “ok, so I was picturing this cow in spandex, and he says……..”

Does God not love this? Does He not want to be a part of every aspect of our lives? Does He really have to be the one we go to for money, help, grace, etc, and nothing else? I’m sorry, but maybe it’s just me… I feel like I’ve been missing out lately on such an important and serious aspect of my relationship with God. The part that’s “un-serious”.

I really think you and I need to slow down. Yes, there are things we must do on the exterior. I’m not talking about stiffing appointments and neglecting laundry and dishes for the day. I’m talking more about the heart. You can surely sense when life is just passing you by, if you look for it. You can definitely sense when beauty and fun is passing you by, partly because you see it, ignore it, and let it pass by so you can get on with “more important things”.

I realize this blog entry has kind of been all over the place, but it really does have a central message to it: seize the day!

Yesterday is gone. Past. There’s no going back.
Tomorrow is inconsequential. There’s nothing you can do to bring it any closer.
Today is what you’ve got. Today is all you’ll ever have.

May we slow down today. Let’s try to appreciate the little things that occur in our crazy life. Let us share more of our crazy ideas with God. Let’s smile at more people today. Let’s laugh at ourselves more. Let us find security, confidence, and hope in the fact that today, and everything that happens in it, whether good or bad, holds such profound value that we should have little response other than praise, worship, and personal enjoyment and pleasure in the Giver and Creator of this magnificent and beautiful blessing called “life”.

P.S. If you’re still thinking about a cow in spendex, you have serious issues - like me.