By Tial Chin ’26

Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Sometimes life can get so busy that we forget to take a breather.
Instead of managing time, we allow time to manage us.
Or at least that is how it has been with me.

From the beginning of this semester and towards the end, I had felt like a robot who had been
programmed to operate non-stop. Whether it was school work, labor work, meetings, or family related business, everyday felt like a continuous string of today.

I am sure I am not the only one to feel this way. To feel as if there is not enough time in a day to finish everything. To feel as if you are surviving but not living. But what if I told you that it is alright to not finish everything? To allow yourself to spend 60 seconds or minutes doing nothing ? We often become so consumed in our world–our schedules–our lives, that we forget to live.

Around 9am on a gloomy cold Saturday morning, I decided to walk to the creek to take pictures
of nature for a project. It took quite a while to get there as it was my first time heading there
alone. At first I was upset that I was unable to get any good pictures of organisms. A majority of
the trees had lost their leaves. Annoyed, I hurried back to head back to my dorm. However, I
noticed that it was eerily silent. No sounds of birds chirping and no sounds of cars. Suddenly I felt
a strange sensation. It felt as if I was being watched! I looked to the side and was surprised to see
a deer laying down and staring at me ! Seeing the deer so relaxed made me want to sit in front of
it and relax too. That’s what I ended up doing for about eight minutes. I had never felt more at
peace than that particular moment. I sometimes still wonder if it was a sign from heaven to relax.
This encounter with the deer reminded me of the importance of enjoying today– as in the present.
Tomorrow is not promised so today is a gift. So slow down and try to live in the present !

Bible citation

Coogan, Michael D., editor. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Oxford University Press, 2018.