Embrace the Gift

“A time to laugh, a time to dance, a time to gather stones, a time to embrace”

From Ecclesiastes 3:1-8


As my wife and planned this years family vacation with all of our kids and grandkids to the beach this coming weekend, I pondered this “present moment” concept in my head and the importance of living in the now as I was listening to a song on my phone as I rode my bike through the neighborhood where my wife and I live. It reminded me of what Solomon writes of in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Living in a retirement community provides unique experiences for senior citizens and riding your bike through the neighborhoods is a rite of passage of sorts. If you are young you have no idea what I am saying but one day you will. The song I was listening to helped me understand how important living in the present moment is. The lyrics to the song went like this; “Tell me all your dreams, and what you think love means, we'll lock the world outside, embrace the gift of time, promising forever, knowing that this moment, might be all we ever find.” It hit me, thats it. The secret to living life to the fullest just as Jesus taught.

Here is the point. Friendships that are based only on the past lack vitality while friendships that are not being cultivated currently lack relevance. You see, beloved, the best friendships, the best marriages, and the best of human relationships possible all live with a healthy understanding of the “knowing that this moment might be all we ever find”. “Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is the present and that’s why we call it a gift” as an old friend of mine would say all the time when he and I would get together for lunch.

Christianity isn’t a religion as much as it is a relationship. Jesus is a friend of sinners and by His death and resurrection has made a way for you and me to enter into a living relationship, one that can be enjoyed each and every day as we walk and talk with God. Talk to many followers of Christ and they will tell you Jesus is their best friend as they have come to know no one loves them like Jesus does and no one is available like Jesus is. As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). Those who cultivate a relationship with God understand full well the following, “A good friend is someone you enjoy going to talk to. A best friend is someone you can’t go without talking to”. Best friends live in the present tense.

Live life to the fullest today! Live like there is no tomorrow but plan like you will be here for another 100 years. Say what needs to be said, do what needs to be done, today. Don’t put it off any longer for one day, today will be our last day. Nothing to fear as then you will see your best friend face to face, the one who made a promise and kept it, the one who said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”


“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.”

1 John 2:19


I LOVE YOU!