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Don’t Blink

Country Singer Kenny Chesney sings a great song called “Don't Blink.”  The song's lyrics tell of a younger man's encounter with a 102-year-old man who was being interviewed on the news. The interviewer asks the man what's the secret to life, and the older man looks up from his pipe, laughs, and says, “All I can say is don't blink”.  I have to share just a couple of the verses:  I was glued to my TV when it looked like he looked at me and said: “Best start putting first things first” Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand You can't flip it over and start again. Take every breath gives you for what it's worth.  Don't blink, just like that you're six years old, And you take a nap, And you wake up and you're twenty-five, And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.  Don't blink, you just might miss Your babies growing like mine did, Turning into moms and dads, Next thing you know your better half of fifty years is there in bed, And you're praying God takes you instead. Trust me friend a hundred years, Goes faster than you think, so don't blink.  So I've been tryin' to slow it down.  I've been tryin' to take it in, In this here today, gone tomorrow world we're livin' in.  Don't blink.

Chris Wallin was inspired to write the song after he lost three major family members within a two-year period.  There was a line that he wanted to put in the song that never made it in: “We always send flowers to people when they're gone. We should send them when they're .” Don't blink.  No truer words are there.  I was thinking about this when our daughter Maddie came home from college for Spring Break.  She is just weeks away from finishing her first year at NAU and we were already talking about what she might do after graduation!  How could the years have gone by so fast?!  Maddie wants to speed up time and jump to when she's 21 and free to do what she wants and I know I'm going to blink and she'll be walking down the aisle getting married.  Don't blink.  Time seems to go faster and faster the older you get (the young never believe that).  Sometimes it can be to remember that yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't here, so today is all we've got.  The days fly by, but there is only one today so we must rise to each one determined to make it count.  What will you make of today?  Maybe do something to make life better for someone other than yourself or do something that will make a .  Do something you've never done before.  Do something and funny.  Talk to someone you haven't talked to in a long time—call them up or write a .  Tell them that you love them because you may never get to say it again.  Don't blink.

 

Author Info: Peggy Roberts Verified Senior Staff
Chaplain Peggy Roberts is Vice President of the Spiritual Life Department here at Beatitudes. Peggy was ordained in the Presbyterian (USA) and has served in pastoral ministry as well as being a hospice chaplain.

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