What can I do today?

Ever fritter away the best of a day?
Ever wish you could have it back?
Ever feel you are taking your blessings for granted?
Ever feel there’s some meaning you lack?

There is a time, it has often been said,
for everything under the sun.
But whether we use time, or throw it away,
Time will ever and always go on.

We all have our work, we all need to rest,
We all need to recharge and play.
We’re easily caught up in life’s small distractions.
We miss things we pass on our way.

Time is given to each human being
It’s replenished for free each day.
Is it not, therefore, each person’s task in this life
To make it mean something - some way?

The best use of time that I’ve ever found
That gives satisfaction returning,
Is service to others, without any reward,
Except knowing it lightens a burden.

Sometimes that help can be given by one,
and sometimes it takes a whole team,
working together, in organized fashion,
to bring to fruition a dream.

Plans we can make of what we will do,
And mem’ries we’ll keep of the past.
But we only act in this very moment,
We act, or the moment has passed.

If I think that I always must reach for the stars
I will not keep my eye on the ball,
For it isn’t the scope of the act of the moment,
It’s the fact that I work the long haul.

I cannot act in the yesterday.
I cannot act in tomorrow.
I can only act in this moment.
I can only act here and now.

So I have decided to challenge myself
To take some action each day,
To help someone else who’s less lucky than I
And my blessings this way to repay.

Be it simple as putting two bits in a box,
Or selling a drink at the fairs,
Or causing peace to break out in the world,
Or proving to a child someone cares.

The first step upon this path that I’ve chosen
Is to make a new habit today.
I’ll think of the world outside of myself
And ask “What can I do today?”

- Tom Olson ©