Make It Count

We had another family dinner tonight--me, my gorgeous wife, and our three beautiful daughters. It was a delicious meal filled with laughter, talking over each other, and interrupting one story to begin another one. We read Scripture and talked about what it means to each of us as a part of our nightly family devotional. There were movie quotes, improvisational songs, random humor, and love shared all around. We even almost had a drink spit across the table in laughter.

I was cleaning up the kitchen when the thought occurred to me: we now had one less family dinner together than two hours ago. It wasn't a depressing thought (maybe a little) but it did reinforce to me the need to value every experience we have together now. We need to make sure to take advantage of every chance we have to laugh, love, teach, encourage, hug, and eat together. It's a reminder to all of us to soak up every experience we have with the people we care about because this particular moment can't be repeated or saved for the future.