Enjoy the Moment

Our two grown sons still live at home. For the past 24 years, my primary focus has been on being a wife and mom, so the idea of being an empty-nester is a little unsettling for me – so much so that I find myself living in dread of it. What then?
My sense of dread has grown the past few months as one son prepares to leave the nest, and the second son is growing stronger land legs with which to navigate his own ship through life. 
The dread has lingered like a toxic cloud over everyday life: time spent in the car together, family dinners, recreation time, holidays. I mustn’t take this moment for granted, I tell myself. Life’s too short.
Yes, that’s very true. Never take anyone or anything for granted. But does that mean we go through life in mourning for what inevitably must take place?
Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. – Matthew 9:15
Think about all the things that will pass in your lives: every season, every penny, every life. If we were to mourn those things we someday – even someday soon – will lose, we would spend our whole lives in mourning!
A beautiful sunrise would become a harbinger of the darkness we know will come.
A smile would point us to the tears that eventually will follow.
A hug would only serve to remind us of the loneliness that is lurking.
We would fail to savor dwindling moments with a patriarch or matriarch, knowing the chair of the one at whose feet we sit will soon be empty.
The gratitude when awaking to a new day would fade to grief with the recognition that our earthly tents will fail.
The joys of a vacation would be swallowed up in the impending dread of our day-to-day drudgery.
The sweetness of family fellowships would have a bitter aftertaste.
A glorious provision would only remind us of our desperate needs.
An encouraging word would fall flat in the face of a struggle.
Instead, I encourage you to enjoy the moment. Yes, it is fading, as are we. But enjoy it. It is a gift from God. Allow yourself an unblemished memory that you can relish on a drier day. 
Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. – Matthew 6:34
This is a short exhortation to you – and to myself. Many seasons have come and gone in my life. I pray I’m able to enjoy every last one, all the way to the very last one. Be at peace, my friends.