I’m staying at my parents’ house for a few weeks in an attempt to keep my own house clean for longer than 3 or 4 hours while it’s on the market. The good news is that we’ve had several showings in the first week. The bad news is that the real estate market bites right now if you’re a seller. (Read: everyone who’s buying a house thinks you should sell it to them for $1.99.)
On the 1,100 mile drive down, I somehow managed to read a book. (I also managed to get a raw spot on my neck where the seatbelt rubbed it 100 times from turning around to solve a problem, hand out snacks, or pick up dropped items.) I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, which has apparently sold millions of copies worldwide and been life-changing for many people. It was a very nice story, and I applaud any book that makes its point without resorting to trashy subplots, but I didn’t find it excessively inspirational. Perhaps that’s because it felt like a lot of philosophical embellishment about simple principles that I already believe to be true. It reminded me a lot of the French novel The Little Prince, only less cheesy. So, while I didn’t love, love, love the book like many people seem to do, I did like it. There were a couple of quotes from the book that were stand-outs for me, maybe just for where I am right now, but I thought I’d share:
“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
“The secret is here in the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future, and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day, in itself, brings with it an eternity.”
Isn’t that a lovely way to say Carpe Diem?
So, I’ve been trying hard to just live more in the moments of each day and to do things like play games with my children and not wish they were over so I could do something else. (What? You don’t do that?) Here are a few other thoughts I love about the right way to live in the moment:
“The past of each of us is now inflexible. We need to concentrate on what has been called “the holy present,” for now is sacred; we never really live in the future. The holy gift of life always takes the form of now.” ~Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“You have “today” within your grasp. But unless you “seize” it, it will slip through your fingers like quicksilver and be gone. Oh, certainly, the sun will come up each morning throughout your life, and each day will present an opportunity of sorts for good works and happiness. But no other “today” will ever again be quite like the one that is now in your grasp.” ~Elder Lance B. Wickman
“Learn the true value of time. Seize, snatch, and enjoy every minute of it, for it is limited unto each individual. Live today! Jesus pointed the way when he said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” (Matt. 6:34.) We must resolve to live one day at a time, and live that one day to the full. Resolve also that we will extract from every experience of this day something that will make us wiser, happier, more efficient.” ~ Elder Hugh B. Brown
So what about you? What good things came with the sunrise this morning?
Early in the morning, we begin the return journey from my parents’ house to our soon-to-be-old home. We’ll be there two days before the movers come and start packing everything up. By next weekend, we’ll be on our way to the new home. The kids will start school about a week and a half later. At some point, I hope I can take a 36-hour nap.
Diapers and Divinity 