everyday is a gift
Today I forgot that I had switched a shift with a co-worker. The problem was we work different shifts. I showed up 3 hours early to work. I live very close and I made the decision to go ahead and go back home and return later. While walking to the garage I literally said out loud. “Okay, I will never in my life get these 3 hours back. God what should I do?” Once I got over the thought of, “I could have slept in” I realized these 3 hours were like a gift. 3 hours of free time. 3 hours to….eat breakfast, go to the gym, walk the dog, write a blog, but what I heard was “work on the wedding”. So let me explain. I am performing a wedding next week. On my calendar for tomorrow was “pack and finish wedding”. But instead I made 3 more appointments to meet with women who I am mentoring and visiting with friends for the same time. Basically my 4 hours I had scheduled to finish the wedding and pack suddenly turned into one hour left (if I was lucky). Then I realized the 3 hours today really were a gift. I wouldn’t be waiting until the last minute to finish something. I wouldn’t be rushing to pack for a week-long vacation and forget something. I was awake. I was breathing. I had choices. I had a gift. Then, by the time I started walking up the steps to my truck I thought about how many other times I could have asked myself the same question. “I will never get these hours, minute, or day back….what should I do?” Why don’t I think like this more often? Seriously, one flight of stairs up to my truck I realized “don’t be so hard on yourself”. I was barely putting my keys in the ignition when I was convinced I have already made a good plan and a good choice. I wasn’t beating myself up for not thinking this logically all the time. I had to stop feeling guilty about time I have wasted before and enjoy and use the time I had now wisely. My lesson today was simple. Every day is a gift. I couldn’t help but think of a song by Chris Rice and some of the lyrics are “Every day is a bank account And time is our currency
So no one's rich, nobody's poor We get 24 hours each So how are you gonna spend
Will you invest or squander Try to get ahead Or help someone who's under” (Life Means so much by Chris Rice) We all get the same gift. I really believed the time I scheduled tomorrow for someone else was given back to me today.