Will you help me out?

Is it simply my interpretation and experience of it or does it seem as if the days fly by, one melding into another like the waves crashing upon the seashore in succession?

Have you experienced the same thing?

When I was young, the passage of time seemed like it took an eternity.

This was especially true if there were an event which captivated my interest. I could not wait for the day to arrive.

The days were spent carefree as I waited for ball practice, for the day of my next game, to shoot hoops with the guys in the neighborhood, or to go to a movie.

As I got older and had a family of my own someone had the audacity to tell us:

“Enjoy the time with your children as the moments will fly by and they will be gone before you can blink an eye.”

I do not recall who said it to us, but I do know it occurred in a church nursery.

My exact thought was:

“What are these people smoking? Don’t they know we have been up half the night changing diapers and making sure someone’s little belly was being filled.”

Time, at that point, passed ever so slowly as the eyelids became heavier and heavier from lack of sleep!

However, the advice giver was spot-on!

Looking back on their wise and my-reluctance-to-receive-it advice, time did fly by as we raised our family.

Our children are now experiencing what we experienced those many years ago.

Moments became days as the days turned into seasons.  The seasons constantly changed, typically measured by one event bumping up against the next.

Since accepting a new offer of employment and with a move to a new locale on the horizon, time most assuredly is being viewed in the petri dish under our household microscope.

We have lived in the same neighborhood for nearly twenty six years, with the last twenty one soaked with memories in the house we built and where we raised our gals.

The time element is magnified when I think of it in terms of living here for over a quarter of a century.

Our children were small when the adventure started.

Now they have homes of their own with two of our three daughters now raising children.

My work life has been divided between two employers with nearly twenty one years and five-plus years of service, respectively.

Jackie, on the other hand, has been teaching at the same school for the entire duration minus a couple of months.

She has invested her life into teaching our children and literally hundreds of other children.

We attempted to quantify how many children she has influenced and the lives which she has impacted.  The tally is estimated to be slightly over five hundred.

We have started playing the reflection game and it is both joyful and painful.

It is joyful from the perspective of seeing with eyes of thankfulness and appreciation how faithful God has been to us over the years.

It is painful in the sense that the familiar is about to morph into the unfamiliar.  At times endings are not fun.  Many emotions want to hop the train and travel down the tracks with us.

Relationships take time to develop and we have been blessed to form solid relationships over the years and have made many friends.

We have been involved in our church which has been a core part of our lives not because of some building, but because of the people whom we have come to enjoy and love.

Although familiar faces will still be in our lives we simply won’t see them as routinely. A painful change is about to occur.

However, it will soon be time to move onto new things.

It is hitting both of us in our own way. It is hitting Jackie more often.

She pulled into the driveway the other day when the FOR SALE sign was being driven into the cold, hard, and snowy landscape in front of our house.

For her, it was an abrupt and tearful reminder that change is occurring.

She did not like it as memories keep crawling out of the woodwork.

Memories like when our house rolled down the road (modular structure) to our current address, waiting to be hoisted into place by a crane like a giant Lego piece.

There have been Christmas trees erected (with one having the top cut off!) and decorated, Easter egg hunts, and playing in the back yard.

There have been boyfriends visiting, birthday parties which took place, proms to prepare for, and weddings being anticipated.

Each day there seems to be another moment or two being drawn to the surface as we look back.

Another memory visited me today.

The neighbors, our friends and former pastors, were watching their grandchildren play in the snow.

I offered for them to let their grandchildren sled down our front yard which resembled a luge run due to icy glaze on top of the snow.

The three little siblings had a blast. I enjoy watching them and listening to their screams and giggles.

In my mind’s eye, they were my kids for a few minutes.

Tears are rolling down by cheeks as I write this as I got the chance to peer through the rear view mirror. If rear view mirrors have wipers I would appreciate someone turning mine on!

Now we get to enjoy such moments with our little tribe.

I look forward to moments like the one shown below as we will be moving closer to our family. Pictured on the left is our little Naomi with her friend.

A few days ago our plans changed and we decided to attend a production of The Music Man being performed at the school where Jackie teaches.

It was another one of those take-in-the-moment-while-we-can things.

I was minding my own business and enjoying the production when a line spoken in the play came rushing at me.  For all intents and purposes it should have been displayed on a digital billboard as it grabbed for my attention.

It stunned me as I did not expect to hear it in this setting.

Professor Harold Hill, a con-man, is falling in love with Marian, the town librarian.

The two are polar opposites. Think men are from Mars and women are from Venus different.

Marian has dreamed of her “tomorrows” which have escaped her when Harold says this to her:

“My dear little librarian, you pile up enough tomorrow’s and you’ll find you’ve collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterday’s. I’m not sure about you but I’d like to make today worth remembering.”

• How often do we live for our tomorrows without enjoying our todays?
• How many times do we forsake the here and now for what is to come, even when what it to come is no sure thing?
• In the process of doing so, how many moments have we taken for granted and simply overlook, allowing them to pass without so much as a glance?
• Do we really want empty yesterdays, moments gone by never to return again?

Our tomorrows are never guaranteed.

I nearly learned this the hard way a few days ago.

Being the first car at a stop light, the traffic signal turned green for me to make a left turn onto the highway.

The light was green for at least two seconds when a car traveling from the north totally ignored the red light in front of him as he barreled right through the intersection.

Fortunately, I caught sight of him out of the corner of my eye and hit the brakes before entering the intersection.

A would-be tragedy avoided.

Let me repeat it – our tomorrows are not guaranteed.

Ask the lady and her family traveling from Ohio through our region last summer. A few teenage boys decided to throw rocks (big ones) off the overpass onto the highway below.

Their ill-timed and never-should-have-been-thrown rock went through the windshield of their car and hit her right in the head, nearly killing her. She spent months in the hospital and has returned home.

She survived, but life will never be the same for her and her family as they now face life coping with her disability.

Her tomorrows were nearly terminated. They most specifically were altered.

I think of parents who have lost a child. This too occurred a few weeks back when a two year old ran in front of traffic in a local Walmart parking lot. A young life no more.

I do not mean to be morbid, but our tomorrows are not guaranteed.

We are cautioned in Scripture to take hold of this mindset.

“Look here you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15 (NLT)

The point is this.

Today is worth remembering.

It’s moments are worth inventorying and absorbing.

The memories which we distill are threads in the tapestry of our lives.  A tapestry to be hung on our walls to be admired, viewed, and remembered.

What tips can I suggest to make your today worth remembering?

• Kiss your spouse and let him or her know you love them.
• If you have small children, read a book or take them sled riding.
• Life is experienced in moments. Find one or two today to enjoy and upon which memories can be built.
• Take a nap. You most likely can use some recharging.
• Go to the basketball game to cheer for your favorite team.
• Take a few pictures with your phone or camera and capture the moment.
• Pick up the phone and call someone who would not expect a call from you.
• Have a meaningful conversation with someone.
• Watch a sunset or listen as the geese fly overhead.

Your tomorrow is not guaranteed.

However, you have been given today.  Make this day worth remembering.

What is one thing you can do today to make it worth remembering?

 Photos Courtesy of Bruce R. Cross