Making the Most of Your Days

Remember as someone put it, "Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is a gift given by God for you to enjoy. That's why it is called the present."
Philip Larkin, a name often unrecognized in many corners of the world, was one of the foremost poets of the 20th century. A complex individual, whose writings often appear to be somewhat dark and foreboding, wrote a letter dated April 13, 1976 to Kingsley Amis, a former classmate.

At the time Larkin was 53 years of age. Remembering the words of Moses who said, "The length of our days is seventy years, he wrote, 'If we equate the seven decades of a man's life with seven days of the week,' we are coming up to Friday luncheon."

Larkin had a novel thought in comparing the seventy years of a person's life with the seven days of the week. That means you are born at 12:01 a.m. Monday morning and finish the week when the clock strikes midnight on the following Sunday evening.

If you are 30 years old, it's Wednesday for you. If you are 50, it's Friday. Then I started thinking about that personally. Based on a seven day week, I realized that I was born in Denver, Colorado on Monday morning, met my sweetheart and married early Wednesday morning, starting Guidelines shortly thereafter, and moved to the Philippines Wednesday evening.

Then I thought, "I'm 67 at the moment, so where does that put me on the seven day week?" Saturday or Sunday! Early Sunday evening! At first I thought, "No that can't be right." I admit it, I was a bit shocked, even slightly disturbed—thinking, "It isn't very long from 7 p.m. to 12 midnight."

Making the Most of Your Days
We, of course, never know when the week gets cut short, or as some do, who live beyond seventy, manage to see Monday or Tuesday of the second week, but rarely does anyone get to Wednesday when the person would reach the century mark.

It is no wonder that Moses added, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Ps. 90:12).

A Few Practical Suggestions:

Live today and put tomorrow in God's hands.
Say it, write it, whatever, but do it NOW.
Plan for tomorrow but live in the present.
Don't let worries about tomorrow or regret from yesterday ruin today.
Make your peace with God today so when you knock at the door of heaven tomorrow, you'll be welcomed home. Paul put it: "Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Claim today—to use the term a friend of mine uses to describe how he learned to live for the present.
Remember as someone put it, "Yesterday is a cancelled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note. Today is a gift given by God for you to enjoy. That's why it is called the present."