Monday Morning Devotion-April 26, 2021

Carpe Diem

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trusted to keep His promise.  Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.    Hebrews 10:23-25

       Carpe Diem means to seize the day.  But you knew that, right!  It is actually a phrase that was used by the Roman poet Horace to express the idea that one should enjoy life while one can.That makes sense, but how often do we forget to do that?

        Do you wake up each morning eager to seize the day?  Take control of it?  Capture it and

make it one of the greatest days ever?

        I remember a recent birthday that our granddaughter Ellee had and the sign that her aunt Holly gave her.  It was pink (Ellee's favorite color) and had a purple flower in the top corner.  There were just three words on that sign:  Best Day Ever!

            Something to think about.  When was your best day ever?  Might be hard to single out one particular day among all the days the Lord has blessed you with.  OK, let me share my best day ever.  It was the day that the Lovely Susette and I got married.  I'm not just saying that because she lovingly edits each of my devotions.  The "best day ever" results of that day continue to play out every day since.

            Now what about your "worst day ever?"  I bet you can pick that one or one of those out in a hurry.  But we're trying to keep this devotion positive and uplifting.  I want you to feel good about it when you finish reading it.  In short, I hope you will be ready to put carpe diem into practice. 

            In his book Win the Day Mark Batterson shares a question that his friend Matthew Barnett, co-founder of the LA Dream Center, which has helped tens of thousands of people who find themselves at the end of their rope because of life-controlling addictions who want to rebuild broken lives.    Here's the question:

            "Can you do it for a day?"

            Batterson says this: "There is a simple kind of genius to that question.  Why do so many problems remain unresolved?  Why do so many bad habits remain unbroken?  Why do so many goals remain unachieved?  Nine times out of ten, we're so overwhelmed by the size of the problem or the habit or the goal that we give up before we even get started."

            But if you break that problem down into a bite-sized portion it seems much easier to accomplish than if you say: "If I do this for a month or a year, I will have it licked."  Can you do it for a day?  Sure, you can!  It is time to "unleash the power of 24-hours" and see what that leads to.

            One thing that can impair our ability to seize the day is a reluctance or seeming incapability of burying dead yesterdays. That is hard to do when grief comes into our lives as it invariably does in everyone's life.

            Batterson shares an extreme example of that.  He says that Queen Victoria who ruled the British Empire for 63-years (1837-1901) fell madly in love with Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emanuel.  For short she called him her "Dearest, Dearest, Dear Albert."  She and Prince Albert had nine children.  After being married for 21-years Prince Albert contracted typhoid fever and died whereupon Queen Victoria entered a period of such profound grief she would never recover. 

            She rarely left the palace, wore only black the rest of her life and turned Albert's room into a shrine.  She died in 1901.  Albert died in 1861.  Her grief lasted 14,283 days.  Although still alive she stopped living when Albert passed away. Queen Victoria never answered the question of moving past her grief.

            "Can you do it for a day?"  She never could.

            One way to equip yourself to seize the day and the day after that and the day after that is to change the story and you will change your life.  Batterson tells the story of one of the greatest upsets in sports history.  The Americas Cup is the World Series of Yachting.  The New York Yacht Club won this race every year for 132 years.  Then it happened---it 1983 they lost°to Australia II. 

            How did the Australians do it?  Their skipper, Mike Fletcher, after reading Jonathan Livingston Seagull, decided to follow the moral of that story.  "Begin with the end in mind."

So, he made a recording of the Australian team winning the race.  It included narration and the sound of a sailboat cutting through water. 

            He gave a copy to each member of the team and instructed them to listen to it twice a day.  They did this every day for three years.  Before the race took place, they had won it 2,190 times.  The moral of the story is to: "Change your story; change your life."  Oh yeah, they won by 41 seconds.  It's not easy to win but with the idea in mind to first seize the day that you are living in, then all things are possible.

            One thing that Susette and I do with our granddaughter Ellee, whenever she needs to get something done that she thinks is too hard or doesn't want to do is: we say, over and over a few times "Ellee can do it.  Ellee can do it."  Then the story is changed in her five-year-old-mind and she will try (sometimes).

            Tony Dungy writes: "Carpe diem---seize the day---make your life extraordinary.  The powerful play, that is today°goes on.  So, what verse will you contribute?

            The way to resolve that (those) nagging problems you have is to remember carpe diem---seize the day.  Make up your mind that "you can do it for a day." 

            Then chances are good you'll experience the "best day ever."

Prayer: "Lord keep us strong as we resolve that we can do anything for a day and help us to seize this day.   Amen!