You're Gonna Miss This

Last weekend the girls in my family took a trip together. As we drove, we sometimes listened to music, including "You're Gonna Miss This." Riding home as the chorus played, I "took a good look around" at the faces of my sisters and mother and tucked the moment away in my memory.

When I got to spend time this week with some friends I had been missing, the song came to mind. As I enjoyed being in their home, the song quite often ran through my head, and I treasured that time.

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast

These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

I thought of last winter, when we had seen people so much during Christmas break. It was a fun, special time, and things have changed a lot since. Yet had I treasured that time? Not consciously.

It says in Ecclesiastes 7:10, "Do not say, 'Why were the former days better than these?' For you do not inquire wisely concerning this."

There are, as Lamentations teaches, different seasons of life. People come and go, activities change, what occupies your thoughts varies. I love where I am at now, the people I am close to, those I think of often, this stage of life...most of the time, anyway. But it is easy to look back at the "olden days" with longing. And to miss the glory of the moment.

Longing for the future, we forget to be grateful for the present. In a few years or months, even weeks or days, many troubles are forgotten and we miss how things used to be. People grow and change, and this is good, yet sad. I think this is one way eternity is written on our hearts-we know we want things to last forever.

My friend Ruthie noticed how Kristen misses me so much when I'm gone, and being a youngest herself, said she didn't think older siblings realize how much the younger kids look up to them and miss them. I've thought about that and my relationship with Kristen a lot since then.

A number of people have told me, "She really loves you." When she runs up to me, wraps her arms around me, and says, "I really missed you!" when I've only been gone for the evening and says, "My misses never leave" when I tell her that...when she offers to sing me to sleep, but asks me to tell her the words because she can't remember more than half a verse...when she holds onto my legs and tells me she won't let me go to a sleepover because she will miss me and wants to sleep with me...I realize this season won't last forever. Already, that sweet time when I used to rock her to sleep as a little baby is gone, and very faded in my memory, though I thought I would never forget.

Time seems to get faster and faster, and though it seems far off, before too long, I'll be coming to pick my little sister up to catch up on what she's up to, to talk about what she wants to do with her life, what she's learning in school or youth group or church, or calling to ask if Kristen can come over and watch my kids. It seems far away, yes, but being the age I am now used to seem old.

So I'm trying to treasure the moments. Another song, "Just Fishin'," talks about a guy taking his daughter fishing, and I like it for this idea.

Fishin' on the river side,
Throwin' back what we could fry,
Drownin' worms an killin' time,
Nothin' too ambitious

She ain't even thinkin' 'bout what's really goin' on right now
But I guarantee this memory's a big'un
And she thinks we're just fishin'

I guess my thought is that for now, time is a limited, precious commodity. Until we reach heaven, we are constrained by time. What glory it will be when we are not! They say time is money, and money should be spent freely for the benefit of people. What else is it good for? Make the most of the time you have. Purposefully build relationships. Relationships are the only things that last beyond this life-relationships with God and with His people.

It's not that we should obsess, but that we should rejoice in what we have. How thankful we should be for what is happening right now in life! Soon, things will change. You don't know what will happen tomorrow. Praise God for where you are now.