When I Don’t Feel Like Carpe-ing My Diem

Finding God’s blessings in ordinary days

The phrase carpe diem has been around for centuries. Though it’s often translated as “seize the day,” Horace, the Roman poet who coined the term, didn’t actually mean that kind of aggressive, somewhat impulsive, “you-only-live-once” activity. The phrase literally means “pluck the day,” as if today were a fragile bloom to be appreciated while it’s fresh.

I like the plucking version much better than the seizing one. After all, who doesn’t want to enjoy every precious minute of life, to cherish every day, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, to not worry about what tomorrow brings? Besides, the seizing variety requires much more energy and gusto than this somewhat lazy retiree is willing to commit.

In the reality of life, though, or at least in mine, sometimes plucking the day is a bit tricky too. I don’t have as much trouble carpe-ing my diem when it’s a day at the beach or a sunny day spent cruising through the mountains with the top down. On those diems, I can carpe right along with the best.

It’s the routine diems that cause me trouble. I find it much more difficult to carpe when there are 317 errands to run, I rush out the door wearing two different shoes, the candy machine eats my breakfast money, I drop my cell phone in the toilet (it happens—just ask my friend Ann), and the World Championship Dominoes Tournament preempts my favorite guilty-pleasure TV show.

Sometimes on those not-so-perfect diems, I’m tired and cranky and just want the day to end. The only thing I want to pluck is the remote control from the end table as I sink into the sofa with relief and binge watch an entire season of “Below Deck Down Under” (the aforementioned guilty pleasure TV).

The thing is, though, God, our loving Father, crafts even those days. He is not only the God of the mountain, He’s the God of the valley too. And He is with us on that mountaintop, down on the valley floor, and all places in between.

“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5) may be one of the most familiar assurances of this promise, but there are many others in Scripture. God told His chosen people of Israel, “Fear not, for I am with you” (Isaiah 41:10). In Psalms, King David declared that even in the darkest of low places, God is with us. And before Jesus ascended to Heaven, He promised, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” From Genesis to Revelation, God’s message to His children is clear: We are never alone.

I may have trouble finding joy in the mundane trials of life. But I’m certain God creates and blesses each and every diem, giving us plenty of reasons to carpe despite what might be happening around us. David understood this well. He reminded us to celebrate each day in Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

Even with all His help and support, God doesn’t expect us to live as if every day were our last. That could be trouble in and of itself. I know I would likely skip my chores, binge watch way too much TV, and eat entirely too many Reece’s Cups.  But we can choose to be joyful knowing that God is present and at work for us in every moment.

And on those days full of petty annoyances and frustration when we just don’t feel like carpe-ing the whole diem? Thanks to our Heavenly Father, even those days contain moments of happiness, moments of comfort, moments of enjoyment. Like when I’m gazing out at our beautiful garden with the lightning bugs twinkling in the dusk, or when my husband surprises me with a kiss on the back of my neck, or one of our sons lets out an unexpected, robust laugh at a family gathering.

I’m going to work on recognizing those moments that God places in front of me. Not seizing them with frantic determination, but gathering the joys of the present moment as Horace suggested centuries ago. Holding them. Appreciating them. Thanking God for them. Because in both today and tomorrow, whether they’re beach days or pull-your-hair-out days, God is our ever-present Helper. And that’s the best reason of all to carpe our diem.