"Glimpse"

I caught the scent of campfire,

When I stepped out today,

Wind smelled like cowboy coffee,

Heard a real faint yippee-yay.

I stared into the morning mist,

I listened close again,

The sound of cattle moving,

And a horse’s neigh and then,

Moving through the shadows,

The drovers made their way,

With lean, old longhorn cattle,

And I could hear them say,

Git along, and yip and whistle,

Like in an old sad song,

I hear a faint spur jingle,

And soon they were all gone.

I thought, my God, I’ve seen ‘em,

Like some moving history book,

As real as any morning,

Can’t believe I got a look,

Of those from whom the stories,

With their wild yesterdays,

Stirred in my soul and childhood,

Long yearned for those old ways.

Aboard the nimble ponies,

The ragged, sweatin’ crew,

Of the cowboys and the cattle,

And the things that they once knew.

And I didn’t want to come back,

From that foggy scene,

My mind clung fiercely to it,

Like a fast-escaping dream.

Don’t look too far at yonder,

Was the wisdom I was told,

Neither past nor future,

‘Cause both will leave you cold.

Gotta learn to seize the moment,

Is what they always say,

Don’t let history or destiny,

Steal the gift that’s called today.

And, yes, I try to do it,

But old times beckon me,

And I will say I’m thankful,

That once I got to see,

Those drovers on that morning,

I think God’s the one who showed,

That shadowed scene of yesterday,

Of the cowboys as they rode.

“This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it…” (Psalm 118:24, NLT)

The day is God’s gift to us, and it is the way life unfolds. Yesterday can be savored, relived in thought and emotion, and hopefully learned from, but it can never be regained. Tomorrow looms large in our thinking and is something for which we plan, but it’s not here yet. And we are not even guaranteed that it will happen. We presume it will, and that’s why we are so shocked when it doesn’t for someone. We can do nothing great tomorrow until tomorrow actually becomes today. The present, however, is elusive. Often we aren’t fully in it, but are distracted by someone or something that takes away our focus. The Psalmist spoke of an intentional response to the day: we will rejoice and be glad it it. What will we do? Rejoice and be glad. How? Because we choose. When do we make this choice? While we are “in it.” The challenge to live thankfully and in step with God’s Spirit is not solved annually, monthly or weekly. It happens on a daily basis. Jesus said we must take up our cross daily. He was right.

Lord, help us rejoice and be glad in this day, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Bill Anton, billantonstudios.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Bill, and God bless you.