Opportunity for Today

I can easily remember my life one year ago.  I couldn’t believe my senior year of high school had finally come. I couldn’t believe I’d be moving out of my house forever in just a few short months.  It was all so unreal.  But I also remember that I was discontent with my life. I didn’t like the place that God had put me.  I was restless; I wanted to escape my life in Scottsboro, Alabama and move on to “bigger, better things.”  I had heard a thousand times people warning my peers and me not to wish away the days till graduation.  I figured I knew more than all of those people, though.  And truthfully, I don’t really miss my life from a year ago.  It wasn't that awesome.  I was in a transitional phase, and I didn’t like it at all.  Here’s what I do miss, though.

I miss the opportunity that God laid before me in that season of my life, the opportunity that I failed to take advantage of.  I was going through an extremely challenging time, and I could have used it to better myself spiritually. Instead, I lamented over my struggles and stubbornly turned my back on the only One who could guide me through the night.

Well, here I am, and I believe I’ve moved on to another phase; a happier one.  It’s so freeing. And while I didn’t learn all the things a year ago that I should have, I am learning them now, by the grace of God. 

I wished away that final year of living at home with my mom and going to high school, counting the months and days till I’d arrive at Teen Mania.  And now, I sit here at my desk in Garden Valley, Texas and I am absolutely elated at the thought of going back to Scottsboro for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  How ironic.  It's made me realize that if I am not careful, I will never live at all, because I'll always be too wrapped up in the future to take advantage of what God has for me today.  I think I really am beginning to understand more deeply the concept of truly living in the present. Of not taking advantage of the time I’m given TODAY. Because “tomorrow” never really will come.

I’m in a class called Habitudes here at the Honor Academy, and I really loved the last chapter of the book, by Dr. Tim Elmore, and his perspective on opportunity.  At the end of the chapter, he helps put the value of time into perspective with the following powerful sentences:

To realize the value of one year, ask a student who has failed his final exam.

To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who just gave birth to a

premature baby.

To realize the value of one week, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realize the value of one day, ask the daily laborer who has ten kids to feed.

To realize the value of one hour, ask a boyfriend and girlfriend who are waiting to meet.

To realize the value of one minute, ask the person who just missed his flight.

To realize the value of one second, ask the person who survived a car accident.

To realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who has won a gold

medal.