What Would You Trade for Today?

“I’ll give you $5 for that,” I casually say to the lady at the flea market stand.

“I’ can’t let it go for any less than six,” she confidently replies.

“It’s a deal!” I say, trying to stay calm; because deep inside I know I was willing to give ten.

Don’t we always start our bantering a little low in hopes of a great deal?

If you could make a deal with God, what would you trade for today?

A day at the beach?

A visit with someone you love and miss?

The reality is this:

WE ARE ALWAYS TRADING TODAY FOR SOMETHING.

Many times we trade today for a day of stress,

a day of “I’m here” moments,

a day of “getting through” or “going through the motions” or “surviving what we as “living martyrs” like to think of as the worst day ever.”

What if you really knew today was your last?

We’ve all heard the quote,

“Live today like there’s no tomorrow,”

but, seriously, who really thinks there won’t be a tomorrow?

Very few of us honestly go to bed thinking,

“It’s been a great life. I can’t believe it’s already over.”

No, we often go to bed exhausted, dreading something about the next day or nervous about the next “big thing” at work or worried about this or that with our kids or thinking “I’m going to be a better person tomorrow or try harder tomorrow or do more tomorrow or start exercising tomorrow or eat less tomorrow.”

Tomorrow has a way of holding out an unreachable carrot that keeps us groping forward with a sense of “almost there,” stealing joy from our todays.

I read a quote this morning on Pinterest that struck a chord in my home-loving heart.

Maybe it hit me in such a profound way because the first thing I did this morning was look outside to see if it had really snowed like our forecasters had predicted.

Hoping for at least an hour delay, I did see a thin, white blanket draped across our backyard;

but the puddles of cold rain on the road in front of our house reflected the street lights and gave no hope of a little more time at home this morning.

And I was disappointed.

As I made my coffee and began my normal little morning routine,

I realized that today would more than likely be a normal day.

Stressful if I allowed it to be.

I read in the Bible this morning about some of Jesus’ last days on earth.

His passion for trying to get the crowds to understand that His time was running short was evident in every parable.

Time.

No one knows when the “last day” will be……

For us personally,

for those we love,

for this world as a whole.

And then I opened my computer, I read this quote: