I read somewhere that about 360,000 babies are born daily. As I ponder the fact that I am attending the funeral of a dear friend today, I wonder how many die daily. No matter how many newborns come into the world, they cannot replace the hole in my heart where my friend lives, nor should they. The older I get, the more thankful I am for each day. I read a quotation this morning that is applicable to my life and may be suitable for yours, too.

We learn from what happened in our past, or at least that is the hope. Nevertheless, we cannot go back and repeat the past; instead, we have to continue forward in our lives. Living for today means to me to take every moment and live it to the fullest since we never know what may suddenly change. Or, in my case, who may suddenly disappear from our lives. This saying also has an inherent lesson in it for Christians. We are to be all that we can be on a daily basis. We should not put things off that the Holy Spirit has been prodding us to do because one day it may be too late to do it. Latin has a phrase for that: Carpe Diem, which means “Seize the day!” Make today the best that it can be for yourself and for those whose lives you touch!

I cannot make it a good day today or any other day if I don’t start with praise and thanksgiving. You may think that I’m being foolish or perhaps double-minded. How can I start today with thanksgiving and praise as well as grief? Because I know that the Lord who made me and gave me this day to live was my friend’s Lord also, so I rest in the fact that he is with the Lord and at peace. I will miss him dearly, for he was the only one in our church who graduated from my college alma mater, or at least the male part of my college since I attended the female school. Every Sunday, he would talk to my husband about how UVA was doing in sports. He was beyond delighted that “his boys” had won the national title in basketball, a feat that they accomplished a mere week before he passed away. So, that being said, I know that he is praising God in Heaven, so I will look for things to be thankful for here on earth, for as long as God chooses to leave me here.

Not worrying about anything is hard about me, because I am, honestly, a hand-wringer. If the sun comes up nice and bright, I inevitably refer to the weather report that says that bad storms are coming later. I call myself a realist, but really, in many ways, I am a pessimist. I have decided long ago that this was a learned behavior because I saw so many of my dreams for my life fall by the wayside as I actually went through my days and lived it. But then I read the Scriptures that tell me that God will restore all things to me and give me hope and a future. (Job 33:26 and Jer, 29:11 NIV)

I am disciplining myself to be joyful before the Lord and to praise Him with all of my heart and soul. I am learning to be thankful for the new day and trying hard to break old habits of looking at things in a negative light. I am working on myself, just as God works on me. I am a work in progress, so as today is an ending, a farewell to a friend, it is also a beginning. Today is a new day to praise the Lord and to thank Him for His goodness, grace and mercy to me, an imperfect and negative being who is working on being more positive.

10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman