Clouds over Mt Rainier under a spotlight of sun Fall 2024
Enjoy It, Until It Is Gone

“Don’t it always seem to go you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.” ~Joni Mitchell

The Last Sunday of September, Fall 2024.
The sun broke through the clouds
More beautiful than a picture.
Quick. Capture it. Save it. It will soon be gone.

And herein is the fact of life.
Until something is gone,
You don’t know what you got,
What you had, or ever enjoyed.

It’s as good as it gets…
Maybe this is all there is.
Enjoy what you have while you can
Someday, it’ll all be gone.

Get while the getting is good.
Before it’s all pushing up daisies
Grab it while it’s hot…
But don’t forget what you had
When the time to enjoy it was there.

I was thinking about the trinkets in my life—those little keepsakes that tag my mind to a point in the past. No, I’m not hoarding, and I’ve been known to sweep files and stuff into the trash, but some treasures keep me anchored to the time when it was good.

There’s a brick from the house in Channelview we lived in for years. When sold, it finally burned down, and my sister snuck past the fence and picked up a couple of bricks to remember the times.

My little red knife from the early ’60s—which included a scrapbook and other such memorabilia—allows me to share who I am based on what I remember—and I remember by touching these treasures.

It’s a tactile memory, even like walking a trail from the past. Surroundings may be different, but I will treasure those memories until paradise is pulled down and replaced by a parking lot, a boutique, and a swinging hot spot.

It’s a memory that invites a response. A sharing of something that meant so much, and except for the memory, no one would ever know a think about it.

An old song comes to mind. The author’s name is unclear. When written? No One knows…

Shut in with God
in a secret place;
There in the Spirit
beholding His face;
Gaining more Power
to run in the race,
How I love to be
shut in with God.

A treasure of words, an inkling of melody, voices around the close of a service, committing their hearts to God. This is not a memory of my past alone but also my identity today. I want to be shut in with God…in the Spirit…beholding his face…and getting what I need to keep running this race.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
(Matthew 6:6 NKJV)


By Michael Gurley

Making Sense of Life, One Thought at a Time!