Have you ever run into an old friend and had a great conversation, just like old times, with an ending that goes something like this?
Hey, we should get together for lunch some time!
Let’s find an hour to grab coffee in the next week or two!
We should have our families hang out soon!
All of the above are “someday” scenarios about which we know the truth: some days never come. When my son was young, probably around four years old, he would walk downstairs to my office, where I was working from home. He was dressed up in his Seattle Mariners uniform—with his glove on one hand and his bat in the other—and ask me, “Dad, can you play baseball with me?” I could almost physically feel the dagger sinking into my heart. “I’m so sorry, buddy, but I really have to work right now.” To which he replied, choking back tears, “I wish you could play baseball with me.” At that point, the literal dagger sunk.
As you might imagine, on many such occasions, even if I was desperately behind on work and about to miss a deadline, I would take a little break and play ball with my boy. Why? Because some days never come. Each time that scenario (or one like it) would play out, I often spent time that I didn’t “have” because I knew that loving my son and spending time with him was more important than my work schedule and the other demands of adulthood.
As Max Lucado writes, “the rewards of risky love are always greater than its cost… The seized opportunity renders joy. The neglected brings regret.” So, play with your young child, even if you don’t have time. Go to lunch or coffee with your friend instead of talking about how you’ll do it one day. Write the letter (or text or email) to that person you know needs to hear from you. Make the apology. Ask for forgiveness. Or, better yet, forgive someone else.
13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. – James 4:13-14
Some days never come. Take advantage of the one that’s called, “Today.”
Troy Burns