Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Living Now

As people, we tend to spend inordinate amounts of time looking towards the future and remembering the past. We should consider spending more time living now. This past weekend, I (Renzi) had several of my best friends in to town to celebrate one friend's birthday and the impending birth of a son for another. It is always fun to see these guys.

I'm reminded, however, that it is important to keep "remember when" conversations to the exception, not the rule when getting together with old friends. Have you ever experienced that? Of course it is in our nature to think back to happy times. My experience says that "happy times" are just like today - mixed with good and bad. Our brains tend to only remember the good times (or the really terrible).

What was great about this past weekend was we spent an afternoon "remembering when" and then spent a nice evening at dinner making new memories.

With a mother battling a serious health issue, a mother in law coming out of open heart surgery, an assistant at work trying to recover from a major surgery, a new office opening for my growing business and Isaiah's daily drama - our "here and now" has been pretty spotty.

All of that said, I "remember when" it was all going great just a short time ago. Everyone was healthy. Business was manageable. Friends were close. Lee Anne and I went out to dinner by ourselves more.

The lesson here is simple; be grateful for today. Make memories today. Ask for forgiveness today. Remember "when" sometimes. Anticipate tomorrow sometimes. But embrace the gifts of each day in the present.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What great advice.

I stumbled on your blog for Twitter.
There's no words I can say of comfort, but I'm so very sorry about your son, as well as the medical issues with your moms. May you find comfort, somehow.