The Last Day

This weekend I spent some time in my garden, as it's soon to be planting time, and I haven't been out there much lately.   The weather was pleasant, and the conditions were just perfect for being out there.  While I was there, one of my cats wandered by and plopped down lazily in the catnip row - mind you, the catnip hasn't sprouted yet.    He lolled about there on the dirt, lazily, without a care in the world, and proceeded to lick his paws and relax in the sun. 

My cats have no worry at all for what next week will be like - they're too busy living right now.

It got me thinking.  

My cats give no thought at all to the future.  They know they're fed, and if they happen to meander by their food bowls and there's less food in there than they expect, they know there are literally hundreds of small rodents and insects nearby from which they can have their pick.   Their biggest worry is what patch of shade they're going to roll in to avoid direct heat from the sun.  How do they ever get by, I wonder? 

Essentially, my cats live every day doing exactly what pleases them.  If you were to ask them, I don't think they could articulate any real regret on opportunities lost.   They are living every day as if it's their last.   

What if we did this? 

What if humans made it a point each day to assume it was the very last one we're given?  Would life look any different?   What if you knew you wouldn't wake up tomorrow morning?  How different would today look if you had this knowledge?   Would you be sitting here right now, reading this?  Or would you be spending every minute with your loved ones and family? Would you let go of old hurts?  Forgive old trespasses?  Or would you sit in worry and fear - waiting for the inevitable moment?

Ironically, this is our last day.  We don't get another one.   Today is it.   This is all the time we have.  Tomorrow may never get here.  So why do we plan as if it will?  Why are we so consumed with tomorrow, and they day after that, and next week, next month, next year?  We postpone living when we fail to see now for what it is, and when we forever postpone living, we never really get down to the business of life,so that it is always deferred, while we wait for some fixed point in the future to deliver our happiness.   

I hope we can all make it a point to live each day as if it really is our last one.   

That may be the difference between living and just breathing a little and calling it a life.