The Value of NOW!

"The Value of NOW!"

The other day I posted something about what my friend, Jim Ferguson mentioned during our "Goals" class this past Tuesday night. He said something along the lines of, "Yes, let's all be planning for our future but let's not forget to ENJOY today!"

Isn't that something we ALL need to be reminded of from time to time? I can answer that for you - "YES!"

My guess is that everyone of you that are reading this blog entry has a calendar nearby. And, that being so, my guess is that you have things written on that calendar that has to be done or places that you have to be at a certain time on a certain day.

Some years back when I was working as a youth minister I was always working my calendar a year in advance. That's the way I had to do it to make sure that things were taken care of with many of these plans. Let me tell you - if there is ever a way for time to "fly by" and for you to "miss" the importance of today.... start planning your life a year or so in advance!

Yes, we all need to be making plans for our future. We all need to be setting goals for ourselves with some sort of timeline as to when we'd like to reach that goal. Yes, there are things we MUST put on our calendars in advance so that we can make sure we don't forget that appointment or whatever it may be.

JUST DON'T FORGET TO LIVE TODAY!

Men and women have worked long and hard hours in order to provide for their families and to ensure a well-funded retirement. However, many times, in doing so they have lost the love and/or respect of their children because the parent was never around for the events that made each day special in the life of that child. Too, many times that person got ready to enjoy their retirement and found that they would be going through retirement alone because their spouse, just like their children, had grown tired of the day being set aside for the future.

A friend of mine shared some great insight on this in response to what I posted about Jim's comment. Here's what she said:

"I learned this lesson well by the passing of my grandparents who died in their mid to late 50's. My grandmother had just retired an my papa was just about to when they both passed away. We save but I intend to enjoy life an make many fun memories with my family because even though you have a future ahead of you it's not promised."

Sad, but so true. Likely, we've all seen this in some way and vow for it not to happen to us... but, many times it still does.

This is a fine line that we all walk and we don't always do well in this area. However, the main thing is for us to be AWARE of our tendency to live too much for the future and to do our best to LIVE TODAY!

You've heard me say it and/or seen me type it in my articles - once today is gone, it is gone forever, never to be reclaimed. Today - as I type this - is Thursday, March 25, 2010. When this day is done there will NEVER be another Thursday, March 25, 2010. Ever. Gone forever.

So, the challenge for each of us is to not lose sight of this fact. We need to do whatever we need to do to call our attention to TODAY! Perhaps set ourselves a reminder on all of our little gadgets so that it will "pop up" during the day and remind us to, "LIVE TODAY!".

Remember, "Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!"

The most expensive items (art, automobiles or ANY item) are those that are "one of a kind" or the only one left in existence. Guess what? So it is with TODAY.

Today truly is "one of a kind" and the only one left in existence.

Pretty valuable, wouldn't you say?

Live it, love it, share it! And, as you do so...

"Make it an AWESOME day! (Who else is going to do it for you?)"

Mike