Don’t put off tomorrow what you can do today

At the wake of my bosom friend Christine Aznar who died recently due to cardiac arrest, her eldest daughter gave a very touching eulogy. With tears flowing, she said that she regretted not telling her mother how much she loved her. She exclaimed, “I never told her how much I loved her. She had been inviting me to come to the Philippines and visit her, but I refused because of my work in the U.S. I regretted why I didn’t come to visit her while she was still alive. I kept on postponing and told her that I would visit her on her 90th birthday, but it’s too late now. She’s already gone. Those of you who are here don’t put off expressing your love to your loved ones, especially your mother. It’s painful when you are haunted with regrets because you put off what you can do today.”

There are some of us who thought that we have plenty of time in our hands. We postpone important things that we can do today, thinking that we can do it tomorrow. But tomorrow is not ours to grasp. No one can tell what will happen tomorrow. What we only have is the present moment. Let’s do what we can do today and not defer it, for tomorrow might not come.

I would like to share some profound thoughts from “Pinterest” that could serve as a wake-up call to all of us. Here they are:

“You never think that the last time is the last time. You think there will be more. You think you have forever, but you don’t.”

“If we remembered every day that we could lose someone at any moment, we would love them more fiercely and freely – not because there is nothing to lose. But because everything can always be lost.”

“Distance teaches us to appreciate the days that we are able to spend together and distance teaches us the definition of patience. It is a reminder that every moment together is special and every second together should be cherished.”

“Life is short, time is fast, no replay, no rewind, so enjoy every moment as it comes.”

“Cherish every moment and every person in your life. Because you never know when it will be the last time you see someone.”

“Appreciate life as it happens. Moments will soon pass and you will wish you had treasured them more.”

“If you only knew how much those little moments with you mattered to me.”

“Sometimes you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”

“Cherish every moment because for every breath you take someone else is taking their last.”

“It’s only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth – and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.”

“Never ignore a person who loves you, cares for you, and missed you, because one day, you might wake up and realize, you lost the moon while counting the stars.”