No Day but Today

No Day but Today
By Will Norrid
All of us have fond memories of what might be called the victory moments of our lives.  A wedding, a birthday, a graduation or a special vacation may stand out in our memories.  We may often recall that occasion and may perhaps wish longingly to go back and experience that happiness all over again.  Each of us also have negative memories.  We may spend time wishing to go back in time to accept a job offer, work on a marriage, make a better choice or do something different.  Whether good memories or bad ones, it is sometimes easy to want to go back to the past.
One area of our life that is uncertain is our future.  We may plan and plot, but there is actually no way to predict what may come in our lives.  Some people live expectantly looking forward to what they are sure are better days ahead.  Others live in dread of the fact that the future may be bleak and dark.  Either looking ahead to joys yet to come or fearing the unknowable future is the everyday existence of many people.
In all honesty, the only moment in life that is real for us is the present one.  We cannot change anything in our pasts and we have limited control over our futures.  So many people are caught up in regret that they miss the gift that the present truly is.  So many others are looking ahead and robbing today of its joy.  Despite what we sometimes think, we cannot add one length to our lives by fretfulness.
When Moses asked God for His name, God responded that he should tell the children of Israel that His name is "I AM THAT I AM."  God exists apart from time.  He is always in the present tense.  In God's eternal mind, all concept of past, present and future is suspended for Him.  He only uses time to relate to we who are mortal.
I would suggest that we need a view of time that is more like God's view.  Realizing that all our experiences have shaped us, we can cease from regret and wishful reminiscence.  Every choice, for good or bad, has brought you to this moment.  You cannot change those choices, but now, here in time, you can choose not to be dominated by them.  You cannot choose the future, but you can choose to live in your present without fear.
As the character John Keating so famously said in the film Dead Poets' Society, "Carpe Diem!  Seize the day, boys.  Make your lives extraordinary."  We all have the ability, by living for today, to make something beautiful out of our lives.  No matter where we start from, if we embrace the present, we can truly be the people that God wants us to be.
Will Norrid