“There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.”

– Og Mandino

My calendar does not lie.  Today it tells me that there are only two weeks left until Christmas.  With our huge Thanksgiving celebration this year, followed by my seasonal job, I look at the date and realize how time has slipped away from me.  I have made my lists and now will begin to take inventory of the small tasks on them.  As I place each check mark beside something that is completed, I will try to enjoy a bit of satisfaction.  Then I will face what remains to be done and set a pace that will allow me to be ready to enjoy Christmas with my family.   I suppose you could say that I am aware today that I’m running late, but I’m embracing the glorious difference between late and too late.

The next truth my calendar tells is that if Christmas is two weeks away, the new year will arrive in only three.  Just as we make preparations for Christmas and anticipate sharing love and giving gifts with the people we hold dear, we look to the new year as a time of making lists and marking tasks that we have completed.  Some of us made resolutions at the start of 2010.  As our Christmas checklists are completed, we will move on to 2011, congratulating ourselves for the promises we have kept and possibly regretting the things left undone.

There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.  There still is time to exercise the option of completing the tasks that have fallen away through procrastination.  There is time to look at all that we have managed to contribute to the world this  year — some of it surprising and not included on any list of resolutions.  There still is time to amend our list and include the surprises that have taken us to unpredictable places and caused us to grow in ways we could not have planned.  There still is time to decide whether to embrace last year’s resolutions and use those that are undone as the start of a list that will carry us forward to the year that lies ahead.

There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.  What is important is not only reaching the destination or goal, but how we travel the path we take as we make our journey.  Let us set our goals based on living fully each day.  Let us make it a goal to love freely and fully and to bring compassion and light to all we meet.  It is never too late to celebrate the gifts that come our way each day of our lives.  We must not be so worried about being late that we hurry past the surprising opportunities that we encounter on our way to completing our goals.  When the time is right, we will arrive at the destination.  We may feel impatient for that time to come; but if we travel in such a way that leaves a path behind us paved with peace and love, we can be sure that we will arrive on time.  There is an immeasurable distance between late and too late.  What is important is to keep walking.