Are you the best version of you?

Let’s talk about the life we are living! Are we waking up and going to sleep as the best version of ourselves? This topic came to my mind as I was walking in an antique store the other day.  I discovered a cool little placed called Ruffler Relics.  It’s in the Eastlake area of Birmingham.  Each inch is covered with old books, fine china, pottery, costume jewelry, oil paintings, and even a stuffed deer.  I spent about 30 bucks in there and felt like I won the lottery.  Looking at all of these old items got me thinking about what my life will look like in my 80’s and perhaps 90’s. What will I have accomplished by then? How will people remember me?  Will I have lived a life I am proud of? Maybe these are questions we should all start asking ourselves now. If we knew that next week was our last, I bet we would all act a bit differently. We wouldn’t worry about impressing people who clearly are not impressed by us.  We would yell less and be much slower to anger at all.  I bet we would look in the mirror and not worry about the wrinkles staring back at us. We would not tell our children, “just wait a minute … I’m too busy with work right now.”  If we knew we only had a week, I know we would say I love you and I am sorry much more freely. And I am confident we would beg God for his grace.  So what is stopping us from doing more of that stuff now? We all understand we will die. Yet we live like we have forever.  Maybe you have a strained relationship with a co-worker, neighbor, or family member. Now is the time to mend those. Maybe you have big dreams that you keep putting off. Now is the time to chase them.  Maybe you want to volunteer, donate to a non-profit, or mentor a child. Now is the time to step up. Don’t wait until you are too old. Live a life you are proud of today.