resolved: to not waste this gift

I haven't made a New Year's resolution in years because I don't believe January 1st makes me any more likely to keep a resolution than July 13th. But when you have that mentality, you're supposed to make resolutions whenever they come to mind, regardless of the date-- and I haven't resolved to do anything in over a year. So when my friend sat me down and forced me to write some resolutions for the new year, it was long overdue. 

This one didn't make it to the original draft, but while taking the thousandth picture of my mom and grandma yesterday, I resolved to finally put my Christmas gift (from 2011) to good use. And in the process, to resharpen the writing skills that have grown rather dull over the past few years. 

I don't think my life is nearly exciting enough to capture on all 365 days, so I'm sticking to 54-- one for every week. 

I think it's only appropriate that a geek like me starts with a picture of a book. It's a novel that I finished a couple weeks ago, but pulled off the shelf because it seemed that important. Because, as we usher in another year, this book reminds me to begin with the end in mind. It's one of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and it's a message that never gets old and never diminishes in importance. 

As a young 20-something, I'm often tempted to believe that my time is infinite, that there will be ample opportunity to invest in relationships-- after investing in my education, career, etc. But it simply isn't true. The year I turned 19, the day I came into the world also became the day that a friend left it. Like me, he had no reason to believe he wasn't going to wake up the next morning. And that's why the central theme of this book is so important. We don't know any better when we are going to die than we know when the world is actually going to end. Sure, there are fancy models that can determine your life expectancy given the right inputs. But life is full of the unexpected. 

Usually when we think of deadlines, they are hard set; we have an exact date. And yet even in those cases where we know precisely when our tasks must be complete, we find ourselves rushing to meet the deadline. We come dangerously close to not finishing all we set out to do. As a Christian, it's an especially frightening prospect. Our actions or inaction in this life could have eternal consequences. Death marks the end of this life, but it also marks the beginning of forever. With that in mind, I can think of no better advice than that offered by Og Mandino: "Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness, and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again"