Sunday Afternoon Tea - Carpe Diem

I have the same morning routine most of the week when my cell phone alarm goes off about an hour before my husband gets up so I can have some quiet time.  Not so much a quiet time but... time that is quiet.

I turn on the kitchen lights, turn on the Keurig, and usually look out the front window to check on Mouse first thing.  In winter, she is usually in her warm-ish Mouse house although she surprised me this morning by looking at me from her Mouse bed on the porch bench... even though it was only 17 degrees.

She is so over winter.  The wind chill was -16 when I got up yesterday, put on my wellies, knitted hat, and heavy coat over my nightgown, and checked to make sure she was okay in her Mouse house.  I pulled up one of the thick towels that covers the opening to her "house" and poked the fur to make certain she was alive and well.  She glared at  me and went back to sleep until almost noon.  I guess 17 above zero seemed balmy after that.

I almost always turn on the television to listen to the local news as I sip the first cup of hot coffee and Florentine jumps on my lap to nap.  It is the only time of day that she prefers my attention to my husband's.  On weekdays, the news goes off at the same time the Bible Study show I watch each morning is coming on.  On weekends, the local news stays on a couple hours later.

I like the local news because it is mostly about local events, local weather, local sports, and only the occasional clip from national news.  Of course, the national news this morning was all about Russia and war.  There has been a sense of deja vu, a reminder of cold war tensions and the world is watching.

I don't worry about war, even though I know the consequences could make inflation go even higher and some products harder to get.  I pray for the innocent citizens who will suffer and for the churches in the war zone to be able to help those who are suffering.

I am not naive and it is possible there will be war on this side of the Atlantic someday.  Worrying doesn't help anyone or anything.  Praying and preparing does.  I am also very aware that, as a Type 1 diabetic, I would live only a day or two without insulin that requires refrigeration.  However, no sleep is lost thinking about it.

My son-in-law once warned me not to read One Second After, not realizing I had already read it.  (It is an eye opening book about an EMP strike.)  I knew exactly what he was talking about, though.  Type 1 diabetics are the first to die in any dystopian novel.

I don't fear death.  I'm just passing through here and the older I get, the more I am ready to go Home.  Like Paul wrote, going to be with Jesus is better but He has me here for a reason.  (My version of the text.)

No, what I do believe God has been nudging me to do is to stop drifting through my days.  Seize the day!  Aka: Carpe Diem.  I'm pretty good about looking into possible future events and preparing for that with a little stocking up.  That is how I can keep from being concerned should war break out with Russia, Israel and Iraq, China and Taiwan, India and Pakistan... and the other hot spots around the world.

The fact that these hot spots have been going on for decades actually gives me peace.  Only God could have slowed down the wars and rumors of wars and He won't allow it to go any further than His will until it is also His timing.

I think what is nagging at me is the overall spirit of the age.  We live in a dark time and I really notice it when the weather is also cold and dark.  Don't get me wrong, I love that winter gives me permission to curl up on the sofa with my Kindle and a hot beverage.  I enjoy lighting candles, both real flames and the kitty-safe battery operated flickering candles on the coffee table.

I think, like Mouse, I am getting so over winter.  I always do by this time in February.  Instagram and blog photos from Southern and Australian friends have been helpful but I miss going outside without putting on multiple layers of clothing just to get the mail.

God has reminded me that each day is to be embraced.  There is a reason each of us is here today.  While He doesn't want us to waste our days, he also understands that "we are made of dust".  These bodies age and develop diseases.  We are different at thirty than we were at twenty, much different at sixty and older.  He knows that, He completely gets my "little at a time" way of getting things accomplished.

What He does want is for all of us to pay more attention to this gift of another day.  I'm trying to live life more on purpose, to seize each day.  Some days instead of seizing the day, I can only give it a gentle hug.  He gets it...  However, we are to pay attention to today, not worrying about tomorrow, not thinking of the past.

Reliving the past is absolutely insane but many of us do it.  I truly believe that is a primary weapon the enemy of our souls uses against us, to bring up past hurts, failures, wrong decisions, words used against us, etc.  There is absolutely nothing we can do to change the past but we can change the way we view it.

He reminds us that His mercies are new every day.  He gives us twenty-four hours as a gift to be spent and how we spend it is important.  It doesn't mean we have to be doing something all the time.  That is actually a modern concept that brings about exhaustion. 

I doubt that being plugged-in all day is what He meant for us to do, either.  How many of us live in a virtual world when our real world is being neglected?  The Internet is a wonderful way to make and stay in touch with friends.  I love being able to learn new things from YouTube videos and Instagram.  However, I have learned to be careful how much time I spend on it.

I took the Facebook app off of my tablet long ago and I can only check it when I'm on the computer, which tends to be only a few days a week.  I can quickly scan Instagram and other apps on the tablet and I have been setting a limit on YouTube videos.  I want to live my own life and not watch other people living their lives.  Even if their life is more interesting.

Seizing the day is not a synonym for filling up all the hours in my day.  On the contrary, it is being more careful how I spend my time.  It seems like time is on Fast Forward some weeks.  

When I don't purposely think of how I want to spend my days, a week has passed by and I wonder what was accomplished other than basic household maintenance. Although, having gone through illnesses before, I am thankful to get the basic work accomplished!

This is one of those blog posts when I'm preaching to myself. If you need it, take it. Otherwise, I know I need it.  Carpe Diem!  Oh, and Maranatha!

Mentioned in this Blog Post

One Second After by William Forstchen... here.  (This book has two sequels and has been called a book "every American should read". I would add that it is not for the faint of heart.)