Each Day
Today, I read a comment that said parents have 7000 days before their kids leave home. It really got me thinking about how I spend each day interacting with my boys.
19 years * 365 days = 6,935
How important do you make each day? I’m guilty of wasting my days on things that don’t matter or don’t have an impact. Today, I spent valuable time with my boys, with my wife, working to provide for them, and doing things for others. But I also wasted time on social media, surfing the internet, feeling sorry for myself, and aimless thoughts. I am proud of the way I spent today. As I close this day and get ready for sleep I know that I made good choices. Sure, I could have made some better choices and done things differently but I have no regrets.
What about all the other days? Some days are wasted and others are productive and useful. Some days, I waste “productivity” on the wrong things. Some days I am really good at checking off to-do lists and moving the needle forward on projects that I won’t remember in 5,000 days. Worse, some days I ignore the value of my children’s attention, and my wife’s needs, and the needs of others around me.
This post is not about making you feel bad, or calling attention to my failures. Tonight, my thoughts are about being intentional. Tomorrow, I will be more intentional than I was today. Some days I just need a reminder to focus on the things that are important now and will be important thousands of days from now. Life expectancy in the US is around 78 years. That’s 28,470 days. Seems like a lot. But what if I’m not average? What if my days are only 12,410? I’m somewhere around day 12,220 right now as I write this. What if I only get 12,221? Will the last one matter? I hope so. I don’t want to waste a day.
Live each day like it matters, because it does.
I’ve had the unfortunate opportunity to see many people on their last day. As an EMT, I got called on many people’s worst day. The methods were many: car wreck, gunshot, heart attack, old age, drowning, etc. It is never easy to face such situations. Some were harder than others. There were some people, however, that had much more peace than others. I could tell some people lived their days as if each one of them mattered. That’s what I hope I can say when my days are up here on earth, that I lived each day like it mattered.
My Grandma Doris had an inscription in her Bible that read, “Lord, how can you use me today?” I think that is a fantastic question to ask every day. My son has been using Grandma’s Bible for the past month and he pointed this inscription out to me last week. It didn’t shock me to see it. Grandma always seemed to be confident in her actions and she was always doing things for other people. Even after her passing, she is making a difference by her actions. Maybe my actions will also last longer than my days.
God had a plan when he created the world, a grand plan that has played out over thousands of years. God also has a plan for today. He has a plan for each of us if we listen and follow where he leads us. I think I’ll try to see how he wants to use me each day. I am sure there is something I can do today that will matter thousands of days from now.
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“A Beautiful Life”
William M. Golden
Each day I’ll do a golden deed
By helping those who are in need
My life on earth is but a span
And so I’ll do the best I can
Life’s evening sun is sinking low
A few more days and I must go
To meet the deeds that I have done
Where there will be no setting sun
While going down life’s weary road
I’ll try to lift some traveler’s load
I’ll try to turn the night to day
Make flowers bloom along the way
Life’s evening sun is sinking low
A few more days and I must go
To meet the deeds that I have done
Where there will be no setting sun…