Precious Today
I should probably mind my own business when I work from Starbucks. I was having tea, unsuccessfully cleaning out my inbox, when the woman at the table next to me unleashed, to someone on the other end of her phone, a torrent of curses about getting a parking ticket . She was fired up and was not using her inside voice!
The meter must have JUST expired. She was ONLY gone a minute. Parking is SUCH a rip-off!
You would think the entire world (or at least the Atlanta police) had conspired to ruin her day. And, based on her incredibly sour mood, her day was indeed ruined.
I hope there was more to her story. I’ll never know. But as easy as it is to criticize her negativity, it made me think about mine.
How often do I let circumstances overrule the privilege of living? How easy is it for me to give into the path of least resistance and whine and complain about life being hard.
Life’s difficulties are a given. My attitude is my decision. When I recognize the preciousness of today, a parking ticket shouldn’t spin me around. In fact, nothing should.
Frederick Buechner says it best in the quote below.
Read each sentence slowly; soak it in; absorb and think about the preciousness of this Monday.
"In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there will never be another just like it again. Today is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth. It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. If you were aware of how precious today is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all." Frederick Buechner