Make it a blessed day!

When logging on this morning I was shocked to notice that I haven't posted anything new for over a month! Time flies around here these days.

The past few weeks has been a mixture events ranging between joy and sorrow - we're honored to be included in the celebrations of nine graduating seniors (congrats to all!). We've also attended four funeral services for church brethren and loved ones.

This combination of celebrations in life and in death brings me to ponder how I have grown in the past 20-odd years and what I'm doing with the life the Lord has blessed me with. I remember graduating from high school as if it were yesterday. I was ecstatic to be done with school and, believing I was invincible, looked forward to starting a new job, making money, and spending the money I made. That was as far as my dreams of the future could take me that summer. I seriously doubt that my thoughts were any different than most of the students in my graduating class that year since the "here and now" is what's most important at that stage in life. But years down the road, life experiences and responsibilities force us to look beyond the "here and now" to the future...there's the obvious things like "how will I possibly manage the shcedule next week?!" And of course there are the more difficult things like financial planning for our childrens' college education and our retirement. But in the whirl of fulfilling our schedule and preparing for future milestones, I don't think I ever take enough time to take care of today, enjoying the blessings in it. Ironically, the "here and now" is really what's most important, for it is in today that I can secure a legacy for my children and future generations. Deuteronomy 6:5-7 says "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." This instruction is for today. Fuilfilling this commandment each day is, ultimately, the security of the future. And so, it is my prayer that I will take time to enjoy today, because I don't know when my todays will end, and at the end of my life I don't want to be filled with sorrow thinking I spent too much time pondering the past and/or preparing for the future.

Make it a BLESSED day TODAY!