Carpe Diem

YOLO

I never knew what that meant until a few days ago.  I saw a hashtag followed by YOLO.  Since then, I've been seeing it pop up here and there.  What does it mean?  Well, according to my sources (my sister), it means You Only Live Once.  So true, right?  But people are like "Jumped in a snake pit YOLO" and I say your living is going to be shortened by your attempts to make "the most" out of life.  But that isn't my blog post for today.  I'm not talking about people's stupidity and their justifications for it.  What I'm talking about is us.  What do I mean?  I mean the people who are living life like we're never going to die.  No, you might not be bungee jumping off a cliff or swimming with sharks, but you're living life like you've got plenty of time still.

Us humans have a warped sense of time.  To us, 70 years seems like forever.  Especially when we're young.  If it seems a ways off, we tend to think "Oh, I'll die at 72, the average age to die.  When I get near that age, I'll get my life in order."  People say "I'll wait till I'm older to get rid of my addictions.  I'm young now, I want to live life."  But as they get closer and closer to that 72 year mark, they seem to think that they still have time left.  They hit 72 and feel like they're going to make it to 80.  After 80, they feel like a spring chicken who's gonna make it to 90.  But one day, life is going to run out for them, for all of us.  We don't know when we're dying.  I could die in the next 5 minutes.  Do I believe it to be true? I hope not!  I'm not planning on dying soon, but I don't want to die and stand before God and have him say "What did you do with your life?" and I have to say "I spent it seizing the day.  YOLO, ya know."  I want to be able to look back and see all the times I decided to do something for God instead of for myself.  I chose to do the right thing instead of the stupid thing.  I chose to make a difference in someone else's life rather than make the morning news.  I don't want to look back with regrets.

People say you don't regret taking chances and living life on the edge.  Maybe that's true.  I wouldn't know, I play it safe.  I don't go bungee jumping or skydiving.  However, living life on the edge could get you pushed off the edge before you know it.  And then what?  Your living once was full of worldly pleasures, things to get a high for yourself.  I'm not saying that doing things to get an adrenaline rush is wrong or bad.  Stupid, possibly, but not wrong.  But I am saying that when you make that the primary focus of your life, then you make the wrong choice for your life focus.  Remember, You really do only live once.  Are you going to make that life full of things for yourself or things for others?  Is it going to be all about you or all about God?  "It is appointed unto men once to die and after that, the Judgement." (Hebrews 9:27)

What's going to be your excuse? You were too busy living your life to make a difference in someone else's life?  You had things you wanted to do so you didn't want to stop for someone else?  Your bucket list wasn't all checked off, so you brushed aside the hurting and lost people?  Why should it be Carpe Diem?  It should be Carpe Perditus "Seize the lost."  Use the little time you have to live life with NO regrets, to live life to the fullest as it was meant to be lived to the fullest: For God alone.