James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
We all know that elusive beast called tomorrow very well. At the getsmart Women in leadership programme I attended, the panelist were asked to share one thing they live by or that gets them motivated. One of them, said ‘If not now, then when!’. I absolutely loved it! She went on to further give examples. If you can’t make an effort to look good now, then when are you going to look good? If you can’t be fit and healthy now, then when are you going to be fit and healthy? If you cannot do it now, then when are you going to do it?
It resonated with me so much, and I think with a lot of other women in the room as well. We always think we have time, always! And yet time is the one thing that we cannot control and we can never have enough of. This year, we lost a colleague through a highjacking gone wrong. A brilliant young man in his prime, having just started working. That jolted something in me. I had seen him during day on the day that he was shot. Everything was great, not even he could have foreseen how his day was going to end. And that is how it is with each and every one of us. Unless you take your own life, or are gravely ill and expecting death, no one knows when their time will come.
That does not mean we need to sit and be gloomy thinking about death, no! It just means that all those brilliant ideas swimming in your head need to see the light of day while you are still breathing. Live life to the full! When your time comes to go, go out with a bang, have absolutely no regrets.
My grandmother used to have a display cabinet, for all her beautiful china that never came out, or if it did it was to be cleaned and put straight back. On special occasions, it would come out, to be used by very special guests.
A lot of us are like my grandmother. Sitting on our talents, watching them gather dust, waiting for that special occasion that may or may not come.
Friends, life is too short! Now while you have breath, get up and live. Go dancing, paint, draw, take up a sport, knit a jersey, learn a new language, challenge yourself. Make a list of all the things that appeal to you and start doing them one at a time. Don’t just sit, live your life and live it to the full, no regrets. I also have a list of things that always appealed to me but I never had the courage to do. 2018 is my year of courage. I have promised myself growth, promised myself to challenge myself.
What have you promised yourself to do in 2018?