Enjoy

Enjoy

I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.

THE MORNING WE LEFT Northern California, there was a red flag warning, meaning that conditions were right for fires to start and spread rapidly. We’d spent a beautiful weekend with friends and my husband’s brother, Phil, and our sister-in-law, Marlene. The weather had been perfect. But as we taxied down the runway, I could tell the wind had picked up significantly.

That night, just as Phil dropped into bed, he got a call. A wildfire was spreading and he needed to evacuate. Grabbing his wallet and a few items, he jumped in his car and left. Marlene had left the area that afternoon for a visit to another part of the state, so Phil waited alone in the Costco parking lot as the sun rose. By that afternoon—little more than twenty-four hours after our plane took flight—their home in a residential area of Santa Rosa had burned to the ground.

The loss felt shocking. Everyone was safe, and that was the most important consideration. But it still hurt to think of their cherished items gone. As a couple, Phil and Marlene spent a lot of time traveling around the world, and their home reflected those special memories.

After our first visit to see them more than ten years ago, we started collecting our own wine. But we’d rarely drink the best and oldest wine. After Phil and Marlene’s house and its contents burned—including rare wine that was decades old from around the world—we began to see it differently.

Drink the good wine. That’s the message we received from their experience. Don’t wait, because the opportunity could be gone. God wants us to enjoy the food he’s supplied us, the satisfaction of a hard day’s work, and life’s simple pleasures.

Not everyone enjoys wine, but I’ve squandered other opportunities to use special items, waiting for a certain day that never arrived. I’ve had unique spices go stale, fancy lotions and bath salts dry up, and sweet treats expire—all because I was saving them for a “special” day that never came.

Thankfully, Phil and Marlene have been able to rebuild, and their new home is just as lovely as their previous one. But the lesson remains: today is special. We are alive, awake, breathing. Those are gifts we shouldn’t squander.

Lord, open our eyes to seeing each day as the miracle it is and enjoying it. Amen.

-Kristin

One Good Step: Choose to use an item you’ve been saving for a “special” day.