Diligo Diem - Value Highly the Day

There's an old cliche that goes something like "happiness is a journey, not a destination." I believe it is true; still I find myself too often looking toward the horizon focusing on distant glimmering lands that may very well be mirages for all I know. Only when I think of days gone by am I reminded that today is the stuff of dreams.

I can't tell you how many times I've looked at old photos and felt a longing to re-live those moments now regarded with their clearer, hind-sight value in mind. The photo on the right is such a time. It was Springtime in Charleston, and I was on a weekend trip with the Boy Scouts. I'm second from left in the back, and next to me on the left of the frame is one of my very best friends to this day, Danny Holbert. Jerry Burns is squinting in the middle next to Victor Robinson and Tim Watson in the back right. In my memory, the sun shines a little brighter, and the clouds ease by more full and white. Occasionally, I hear a song on the radio, or smell the sea on the air and it all comes back. I was experiencing life for the first time in so many ways, yet unaware of the profundity of each experience. I knew we were having fun, but I didn't know just how iconic such a moment would prove in the way I view so much of my youth.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon in downtown Charleston with my family. We walked up East Bay and down to the Waterfront Park. Bobbi gleefully pointed out the dolphins playing in the harbor suggesting that they had waited for her arrival before beginning their performance. I played along mimicking a showman directing attention to stage left in the harbor. Nathan and I found an open swing to enjoy the view while Kristin braced against the stiff March breeze on a nearby bench. Afterward, we walked up to Market Street for dinner and then back down Church Street to complete the loop. The Spring flowers were vibrantly in bloom, and despite all the slights of a nostalgic mind, I'm sure the sun shone as brightly as it ever has. The whole afternoon was just a spur of the moment kind of thing. I'm not anymore successful or distinguished than I was yesterday morning, but in a way, I am richer...it just takes a little reflection time to realize it.

I'm reminded that everyday has such potential. True, I can't always go take a stroll through a garden spot in the sun, but I can, and should, weigh the value of time spent with the ones I love. Life is now and it should be highly valued as a precious gift from God.

Psalm 118:24 "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.