“How did it get so late so soon? It's night before it's afternoon. December is here before it's June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?” This quote from Dr. Seuss has never rang more true in my life than it does now. As my semester of studying abroad has come to an end, I can't help but look back and wonder how on earth three months went by in the blink of an eye.
Before I left, everything I did seemed to lead up to studying abroad. During those months before leaving, I struggled a lot with contentment. I couldn't stop looking forward to the next best thing that I would find in London. Because of this, I can see now just how much I took for granted about those summer months at home. When you spend your life wishing for what's going to come next, you miss a lot of amazing things happening in the now. No matter how hard I tried not to let this semester abroad fly bye, it did anyway. Life has a way of doing that, I guess.
I'm afraid of the realization that time isn't going to slow down when I want it to. I've made a conscious effort this semester to try and live every single day to its fullest, and I hope that is one thing that I have brought back with me to Nashville. I never want to take another day for granted or pretend that life will slow down when I want it to. I want to live in the present in a way that allows me to love each and every day I have. If I've learned one thing after studying abroad for a semester, it's that time is relative. There have been days that felt like minutes, and months that felt like days. Looking back on pictures from September feels like a lifetime ago. It's all too much for my feeble mind to grasp, if we're being honest.
Each day comes and goes and oftentimes, I wonder if we even realize another day has passed. Throughout this semester, I kept a countdown on my phone of the days until I came home. Every morning when I saw that I had one less day left on this adventure, I was reminded to make the most of whatever that day would bring. I sometimes wonder, as morbid as it sounds, if I had a countdown of my days left on earth, how differently would I live each day. It's the classic cliche of "live like you're dying", but I don't think that's all that crazy of a notion anymore.
John 10:10 says, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." I think that's God's version of "live like you're dying". He gave us Jesus so that we could live each day as if it's our last. With His sacrifice, love and grace, we are called to live abundant lives in His perfect name. When you look at it that way, what an incredible adventure each day really is. Our days may go by faster than we wish, but don't let that hinder your ability to love every minute.
