"Live each day as if you knew it were the last day of your life." I have heard this statement often, but never really stopped to think it through. Many times I would hear it and attempt to practice it only to end up frustrated. As I began to think through what it really means to live each day as if it were the last day of my life, I began to come to the conclusion that it is not possible to live each day as if it were the last day of my life. A better challenge seems to be, "Live today so that if I die tonight, tomorrow I will have no regrets."
I know some people may think that the difference between these two goals is trivial, but in the working out of them, there is a great difference. For the person who thinks that he must live today as if it were the last day, any activity that is just a necessary chore of living becomes insignificant.
For example, if you really knew that this were going to be the last day of your life, what would you not do? I can guarantee you that if I knew today were my last day, I would eat all meals out to avoid cooking and washing dishes. I would skip all school work with my children and just sit and read books. I would forget about doing laundry and go for a long walk through the woods with my family. I would get up very early to spend extra time with God and then would spend the rest of the day consumed in enjoying the final day with family and friends.
This might be okay for a day or so, but eventually I would have to come back to reality and start washing dishes, doing school work, and cleaning the house--none of which I would have chosen to do if it were my last day on earth. This is why I think we sometimes feel frustration when trying to live by this standard of living for our last day. God didn't intend for us to know our last day of life because He wanted us to be living each day fulfilling our responsibilities, but continually living in light of eternity.
Now to the second goal statement: "Live today so that if I die tonight, tomorrow I will have no regrets." How is this statement any different than the first one? This statement realizes that life cannot be lived the way that the first question demands, but that it is possible to live with no
regrets. Today I can live so that if tomorrow I am in eternity, I will have no regrets for how I spent my time. In eternity, I will see that doing the daily chores were necessary. I will see that sweeping the floor was not any less spiritual than spending time with a child. However, I am afraid that I will also see that so many of the ways that I chose to use my time were only living for the temporary instead of the eternal. Even when it comes to daily chores, I may discover that so many of them were unnecessary in light of more important things.
I wonder if I were really living today so that in eternity I would have no regrets, which things would I leave undone? Who would I spend my time with? How would my standards for living change? How would I use my money differently? Which words would I choose to say or not to say?
For me, it brings a sense of freedom knowing that doing daily tasks are not just a necessary evil, but they are actually a very important part of God's plan for my life today. However, every moment of my life that I trade today for more of the temporary only takes away from the eternal significance of my life.
Borrowing from my husband's favorite quotes, I should continually be saying through out my day, "What does God want me to do RIGHT NOW?"
By the way, I have a wonderful sixteen year old daughter that is trying to live this statement out in her life. She chose to invest in my life on Valentine,s Day with a dozen roses. Her investment in my life, and my investment in hers will be something neither one of us will regret in eternity.
