Lately, I have been thinking about time a lot.

My brother died at the age of 57, which may sound old to some but others realize how very young that is.

His birthday is next month, and I have been trying to plan for how to celebrate him, which really means I am trying to plan for how to get through the day for myself because the last few years I haven’t gotten through the day with him, either texting, talking on the phone, or taking him to dinner. This year I am going through it alone, and I am trying to figure out how to…keep him in it. I mean, we talk about celebrating someone’s life or honoring them, and I think that is valid, but really, I think we are also not wanting to walk through “their” day alone.

So, I’ve been trying to figure out how to fill his day, which has also spilled into thinking about my birthday in a few months. I have had one birthday party in my whole life, the year I turned 42. I am not one to plan celebrations of or for myself, but I have to admit, I feel the importance or celebrating life more than ever.

Today I posted that we don’t get this day again, use it wisely, not just to do good for yourself but to do good for others. What has stuck in my mind is:
You only get this day once.

Like today, this 24 hours that is so much like every other one…isn’t.

It is exceptional because we have it.

And it left me with the thought that this day has sacred importance to it.

It isn’t just a day to get through or relax in.
It isn’t a day to squander with negativity or glum or the mindset of just getting by or counting down until the weekend or whatever event.

It’s a day we’ve been gifted.
It is sacred time.
A gift we don’t get to open again.

There is not a single moment with Raymond I get to open again. They are spent and gone. Those sacred moments of conversation, laughter, working out family issues and hurt…I was gifted them once.

All the potential of today only happens once.

And I am wondering how my life would look different if I really lived in that sacred space of time.

I am wondering whose life would be better if I lived in that sacred space of time.

What situation would be better?
What purpose could I influence?
What kind word would I give?
Where would I send that money to?

How would the world be better if I took responsibility for the fact God intentionally put me in this sacred space because I have something to leave in it?

Anyway, that is what I am thinking today.

Time is a sacred gift.
Maybe the greatest gift is that each of us have something to leave in that sacred moment.

Blessings…that you realize you are the blessing to leave in each moment…

Jerri Kelley