The current life expectancy for a man is now 75 years or 27,375 days. Based on this estimate, I have already used up approximately 20,560 days. Hmmmmm! I'm down to about 6,815 days! I admit there are many days when my morning alarm goes off that I wonder "How many more days will my life be driven by the clock"? Usually after a shower, and when I am fully awake, I am just happy to be alive. Of course, I know myself well enough to realize that I will always need alarms in my life whether they be alarm clocks or temple bells. I long for freedom but need structure. I am not in a panic about the estimate of 6,815 days to live. For now I live one day at a time and I strive to live it well and fully. Doing so does not necessarily mean living an extreme or adventurous life. It means being present to the life I have and living in the moment. It means celebrating the ordinary and being open to the extraordinary. Every life is an adventure and one never fully knows where your life will take you. It may be a journey of the body and is always a journey of the spirit. My rather ordinary life has taken me places I never dreamed of being. In some cases I never left my home. I like the mystery of life and how it unveils itself in ways we never see coming. I may not have 6,815 days left. Maybe I only have 3,257 or maybe I have 11,277. Whatever the number they will reveal themselves one sunrise at a time. It is a good thing, when one opens their eyes in the morning, to greet the dawn with a prayer of thanks for another day with its endless possibilities for meaning and joy. Sometimes during the day one should pause and notice your own breath. Hear it? Feel it? If so, it means you are alive. Don't die before you live. My young son makes fun of me for saying this but "Seize the day"! Of course, in the evenings, when he catches me napping in my chair, he will sometimes wake me and ask, "Dad, are you seizing the day"? Well, in those situations I am seizing my dreams.
When I left work yesterday it was 100 degrees in the shade. On the way home my car temperature gauge read 102 degrees all the way home. It was the hottest day in Kentucky history since 1930. I thought I would try to use my imagination a little to create a scene that might help all of you cool off a bit. Here goes....It is a cold night as you snuggle in the warmth of you bed. Outside in the darkness the wind howls. You can hear it occasionally whistling around the corners and in between the houses in your neighborhood. Soon you are asleep while nature works its magic. When you awaken in the morning and look outside your window everything is covered with snow. All of the trees and bushes are draped and rounded, glistening as the morning sun reflects off the ice crystals. Your otherwise drab and ordinary neighborhood has been transformed into a beautiful and magical winter wonderland. Inside you are warm and cozy in your soft, flannel pajamas. The aroma of freshly ground coffee brewing in the kitchen sings its siren song to you. Providentially and serendipitously you remembered to stop at your favorite bakery on the way home the day before and you have a bag of fresh apple fritters. You warm them up as the coffee pot makes its last groans telling you that your morning nectar is ready. Soon you are sitting in your favorite chair by the window, drinking your coffee, eating your apple fritter, lost in the beauty of the magical and sparkling wonderland outside as you thank God for all of life and especially the perfect moment that you are now experiencing. Did you forget the heat while you were reading this? I bet you did.
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