Putting life in your years

Abe Lincoln once voiced the following bit of wisdom, “What’s important is not the years in your life, but the life in your years.”

I have always attempted to live according to that line of thought, but this past weekend, though nothing spectacular really, was remarkable nonetheless.  What made it remarkable was the joy and serenity of a number of typical “moments” in a variety of settings.

On Friday my kids were let out of school after a half day, and I had the pleasure of eating lunch with my girls, on the lake, and taking my youngest to see the new Dr. Seuss movie which was just released.  Watching her laugh at innocent and engaging humor was significant for me.  Later in the day I played my first match in a tennis tournament with a good friend, and beyond the fact that we won our match, the quality of fellowship was just good.

Saturday, after getting a quick workout in at the gym, I took my youngest to her soccer game and watched her leave it all on the field (which at 8 years old is asking a lot).  Again, just a typical, but nonetheless GREAT moment.  After the soccer game we headed off to the tournament where my partner and I won match number two on a glorious day.  It was 75 degrees, we played quite well, and we dominated those poor losers!  We then hung out around the tournament with many friends and enjoyed the afternoon.

Saturday night, I had the good fortune of taking one of my daughters to the Opera.  We got dressed up, made the drive into the city, and had a blast listening to world class voices.  Again, no world changing activity (at least not on the global scale), but it was a tangible sense of experiencing quality moments while living the kind of life, personally, God has called us to live.

Sunday, after getting up and doing the work of an owner of a litter of 7 Labrador pups, I headed back to the tournament to leave it all on the court in the Finals.  We did indeed win the whole shin-dig, and had a great time doing it.  After the tourney several friends and I went out to lunch on the river, with my youngest in tote again, and had a great meal on a perfect weather day.

Sunday afternoon and evening were spent at the soccer fields with my oldest watching him do his thing.  His team, a premier travel team, competed against an older travel team and whipped them.  My son’s performance was, of course, stellar, as always (that is an unbiased opinion, totally).  After the game we both headed to the car wash and washed our vehicles (him having just received his first set of wheels a couple of weeks ago).  Watching him take pride in the spit shine of his new muscle car was pretty neat.

We ended the weekend at home capped off with my middle daughter, a chef in training and baking guru, knocking it out of the park with some killer chocolate chip cookies.  After dinner was done and the kitchen half cleaned, I called it a night by reading a good book and enjoying a good glass of vino.

All in all, again, no world changing events, yet I woke up Monday morning thanking God for His grace, blessing, and presence in the ordinary events of life.  Many people, myself included, can be so enticed by the world’s call to live out loud and to make every experience more exhilarating than the last, that we miss the special quality of life offered to us in the more sober moments.  Worship, as a lifestyle, is experienced as we offer each moment to our Creator, and as we live each moment before and audience of One.

This week, take time to really live in each moment.  Ask God to give you a sense of His presence amidst each step you take, and amidst each interaction you find yourself in.  And remember along the way that you never lock eyes with anyone who does not matter to God. Put life in your years, and don’t miss the moments God is offering you.  Slow down enough, occasionally, to live life to the full and in the company of others.  Keep your goals, your focus on excellence and difference making, but experience it all along the way.

Living life to the full,

Bruce Smith

Optimuslife.org  (to donate simply click on the donate button at optimuslife.org)

This entry was posted on 18. March 2008 at 09:52 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.