These lingering winter days are tough on me, and, I think, a lot of other folks.
A few sunny, warmish days and we are sure spring is on the way. We want to get our hands in the dirt, plant flowers and gardens, spruce up the yard, you name it. After all, the birds are chirping like crazy, it must be time.
All too often, Oklahoma has shown me the fool, getting my hopes up and dropping them like a ton of bricks or, more accurately, like two inches of ice. I don’t even want to think about how many plants and seeds I have killed by planting too early. Enough that if they grew I could feed a small army.
But it points to a larger tendency I have, worse than wasting seed. Wasting time. Not because I’m on my cell phone, but because I wished it away. I wish for spring, or for summer to end, or the holidays to get here. I wish for days to pass and hours to fly.
Instead, I – and by that I mean everyone – should be getting the very last drop out of every minute, every day, each month and week and year. There are only so many winters and springs allotted to us, and we wish them away.
Secondly, they are wasted by waiting. Wait until the weekend, until summer, until school starts, until the kids are out of school, out of the house. Wait until retirement, wait until that raise comes in, wait for the income tax refund.
We don’t have that kind of time. None of us do. The older I get, the more often I think of John Kennedy.
‘If not us, who, if not now, when?’ was one of his famous quotes. He accomplished so much in a life that was cut short.
So stop waiting, wishing your life away. Take the time to glory in each day, whether sunny or sodden. Grab it and shake all the life there is to get out of that 24 hours. Do more than you thought you could. Plan more than will ever get done in a day. If you don’t get it done, start again tomorrow.
Be alive and enthusiastic and vital. Work and plan and play. Hug the kids, pet the dog, kiss the husband even if there are dirty socks on the floor and dirty dishes in the sink.
And be thankful. Thankful for every day, each minute, the people in those days and minutes. At the end of the day, savor those minutes. Treasure them up in your heart.
As they spiral out into your future, the memories and accomplishments will be more than enough to fill your heart.