Carpe Diem


 

By all accounts the phrase ‘carpe diem’ doesn’t actually mean ‘seize the day’ – it originally had a much more horticultural resonance. Basically it really means, in the original, ‘to harvest something when it’s ready’. Our own more modern translation of the Latin probably says more about the kind of grabbing society we live in.

 

What would it mean today, this day, to harvest the thing that is ready?

 

In the midst of the global pandemic, the past seems like a place that has drifted off into the mist, and the future seems inconceivable. The other day I tried to indulge myself in some future plans, but I quickly realised I had no idea at all what the future might look like. Not the slightest inkling, and to be honest I never have had a clue. None of us have, whether we make plans or not.

 

It came to me that what we have these days is actually a bright shining light on something that has always been true. By the grace of God, we only have now, today, this moment for harvesting. The past is a harbour of woes and worries, or a shifting sand of nostalgia. The future is beyond us no matter how much we grasp for it, a cloud running ahead of us.

 

Now is the gift, to be enjoyed and seized upon. Does the bible have anything to say on the matter? What do you think?

 

The negative of living for now is we ‘eat and drink, for tomorrow we die’ (Isaiah 22:13) and take no thought for the consequences. The world is a big fan of this way of living, because it loves to grab for itself.

 

The New Testament is full of ‘today’. The gospel has a sense of urgency. ‘Today do not harden your hearts’, ‘today you will be with me in paradise’, ‘today salvation has come to this house’. Today is where we live and where the good news meets us. You may not have tomorrow to respond.

 

Matthew 6:23 says ‘therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own’.  As Christians we certainly have a hope for the future, but we live today.

 

Today is the day. Accept the gift. Harvest it and live it.

 

 

 

 

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