Another Day of Life

 A miracle happened: another day of life.  

(Paulo Coelho)

I am writing this in the early morning of a brand new day. If you are reading this, it means you woke up to another day too. There are no guarantees, ever, that we will get another day. I don't know about you, but I forget that regularly, taking days on end for granted. 

Reminders of the fragile and precious nature of existence always come along though. They wake me up in a different way than my eyes opening each morning. Reminders like terrible tornadoes that took dozens of lives in parts of the U.S. over the weekend. Reminders like a former colleague dying suddenly. He was a year younger than I am. Reminders like alcoholics and addicts dying from their disease or the long-term effects of it.

What if I didn't need these shocking and jarring reminders? What if I woke up each new day and welcomed it with a smile and a thank you?  What if I approached it as suggested by Brother David Steindl-Rast:

"If you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the last day 

in your life, then you will have spent this day very well." 

Practice makes progress possible, and I am making progress toward this goal of responding to each day as a gift. I like the use of the word "respond" in the quote above. It is gentle encouragement to simply pay attention and contribute to the opportunities at hand.

I went snowshoeing after work yesterday and captured the setting sun: 

I took in the early evening awe, thinking about those who saw their final sunrises and sunsets in recent days. Then, I stopped thinking and got back to living.