“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.” – Mother Teresa
The sun has risen, a new day is here. What will come of it? What did I do yesterday? Already the moments blur together, hard to grasp with memory. Minutes fly, hours and days slip through the calendar's grasp like water down day's-end thirsty throat. Oh how I want life to slow and pause so I can take it in more fully, snapping a thousand pictures that will hold and not vanish out of sight and out of mind.
My daughter turned fifteen this month. I peer down into the deep well of years and wonder if there is a clue there as to where they all went and how? How did all of those days and changes happen right under my nose and careful watch and yet I did not hardly notice until just now in the wind's major direction shift, all of a sudden, just like that? I get knocked over by the shocking gust's blow.
Just yesterday or so I thought, I was towering over her little head and holding her little hand in mine, once much larger, able to cup hers whole. And now, she and I match in height, in hand and feet size, and in so many other ways as we inch closer to the place of becoming more friends than mother and daughter. We have now reached her life's long-promised crosswalk of childhood that leads to womanhood without so much as a warning; like a shadow's creep, one step and day at a time, she grew up. Cutie-pie gone, beauty's latest masterpiece unveiled.
We wake, we work, we play, we sleep. Repeat, blink, blink and poof! Your child is no longer that, now placed in a new category and one that surprises you out of the blue like a sucker punch in the gut, or really, the heart. Ouch.
Like a watched cocoon's magnificent breaking while my head was turned just for a moment, she has emerged new and I must prepare for what is undoubtedly coming; her too soon but very eventual flight. This is awaking in me the need for trust: Trusting we have done well by her and shown her the ropes in the best way we knew how, and more so, trusting that God will keep guiding her each day, and that she will keep trusting Him in all things:
Psalm 143:8: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life."
As my daughter grows these next few years up the vine of her budding life and reaching and leaping towards adulthood, I will remember these glorious words and entrust her even more to The Glorious Son's hands that guide and know the plans.
I am reminded of that timeless adage: Here today, gone tomorrow. Today is all we have. Today is boxed-up joy, adventure and storybook. Friends, tear into it! Rip the paper and open it up! Devour the wonder of TODAY with the people in your personalized gift box and revel in the surprises and trust in the One who offers each one.
I know for me at least, I will be using this day for extra long talks with my not-so-little- anymore girl, who is one of the best gifts in my life. We will laugh and be silly and we will get serious some and I will surely be in awe once again of the woman-friend she is fast becoming...and I will enjoy each moment I get with her today. Because it is all I have. Let it begin.
And, let me remember it...
Question: What or who in your life are a gift that you should open up fully and enjoy more today?