Sister Lindsay had another birthday on September 8th
For the second year in a row, Sister Lindsay has quietly celebrated her birthday away from home and family. In September 2011 we were in the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah when her special day arrived. So of course, the other senior missionaries in our district sang "Happy Birthday" to her.
This time around, we were in the midst of our missionary service in the Chesapeake Ward of the Baltimore Stake for the anniversary of my wife's birth. The district leader announced Sister Lindsay's birthday at our ward missionary coordination meeting, so the assembled group sang to her; and during the course of the day, several other missionaries called to offer their best wishes as well.
If memory serves me well, I believe that she might be 26 plus some months this year. When I suggested that to my wife, however, she told me that she had no interest in being 26 years old again. Her point is well taken. We can never return to our yesterdays, and why should we want to if we have enjoyed life's journey as we have lived it. For certain, we only have one chance at mortal life . . . and it is here and now. Regardless of our ultimate span of years on earth, as we grow older we begin to realize that our existence here is brief in the eternal scheme of things.
Hopefully as we age, we should also learn some valuable lessons that help us to distinguish what is important and what is not. Much of what we might have thought was relevant at age 26 no longer seems to matter that much 40 years or more down the road. Someone has suggested that "all things being equal, they are not!" Today, regardless of whether or not it might be our birthday, it just might be the most important day of our lives depending upon what we choose to do with it. We have no sure guarantee of any future tomorrows!
If you knew for certain that today was your very last day on earth, what would you choose to do with this 24 hour period? Perhaps, expressing more love and concern for other people might be a good beginning. Or forgiving another of his trespasses (real or imagined) against you could be worthwhile. Taking time to play with a child or just spending an hour with an older person who needs someone to just listen . . . these things could be significant and selfless acts of kindness.
The American composer Meredith Willson in The Music Man has Professor Harold Hill, one of the principal characters in the show, voice a caution that is worth repeating. Says he, “You pile up enough tomorrows, and you’ll find you’ve collected a lot of empty yesterdays.”
"Let us relish life as we live it, find joy in the journey, and share our love with friends and family. One day each of us will run out of tomorrows." (Thomas S. Monson)
That's a happy picture of mom. I like it.
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