Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quem mihi, quem tibi finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nec Babylonios temptaris numeros. Ut melius quicquid erit pati!Seu pluris hiemes seu tribuit Iuppiter ultimam,quae nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum, sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida aetas: carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero.
Translated into:
Ask not we cannot know what end the gods have set for you, for me; nor attempt the Babylonian reckonings Leuconoe. How much better to endure whatever comes, whether Jupiter grants us additional winters or whether this is our last, which now wears out the Tuscan Sea upon the barrier of the cliffs! Be wise, strain the wine; and since life is brief, prune back far-reaching hopes! Even while we speak, envious time has passed: seize the day, putting as little trust as possible in tomorrow!
Hebrew saying is "And if not now, Then when?"
Jesus said it another way, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” Matthew 6:34
The thoughts that roam through my head are constantly flipping from one individual to another that has had a part in my life... grandmother Arms who was taken from us when she slipped and hit her head on the tub, Uncle Marvin died of cancer, Aunt Nelda lived and breathed adventure until she too died of a head injury after falling inbetween a boat and the dock, Uncle Charles for the last 3 year of his life was confined to a retirement home and it broke his beautiful spirit for life, Uncle Mickey is the latest in the line with his passing over the weekend due to a brain aneurysm.. my grandmother Lindsey, who lived to be almost 100 and was still able to do almost anything she wanted, is probably the only one of those that could say she was ready to go - she held on long enough to see all the family that could make it to see her, including waiting to say goodbye to me...
Carpe Diem... it's not easy...
As humans, we tend to think that there is always time tomorrow... we can finish what we started today later... however, this isn't always true, tomorrow may not come for us or it might end suddenly... Our job as human beings, then, is to be born again each instant and to die again each instant. Are you so busy seizing the future that you’re losing today? If so, I would remind you of the second half of the expression and encourage you to seize each moment. Enjoy each second and squeeze from it all the life you can!
However - As I sit typing this... I'm constantly reminded of the things that I have "waited" for... that I haven't taken the steps to "seize" a moment or desire... and maybe it's the fact that there has been so much death and despair forcing it's way into my life recently that has punctuated my need for Carpe Diem... I've lost another chance at being a mother, of seeing my husband be a father... I've lost time with beloved members of my family that I'll never get back... I've lost touch with friends only to find out that I'll never get the chance to "catch-up" again... but with these thoughts in mind, how do you change the way you live if part of your life is always trying to plan for the future and make the future perfect?? Don't get me wrong, I love my husband - but the boy truly needs to learn that the only thing that is assured is the right now - tomorrow is the future, today is the present and yesterday is the past... the only place you can live is in the present, and while yes, you can't get by on hope and prayer all the time, you also need to LIVE!!! Seize life, seize the moment... this moment will never come again and life slips away so fast...
Part of me wonders how many more lives I'll say goodbye to before I'm allowed to personally welcome a new life into my family...
No comments:
Post a Comment