Carpe Diem: Making the Most of Every Opportunity (Devotions for Real Homeschool Moms)

When I was in high school I loved the movie Dead Poet’s Society. My best friend and I watched it over and over and over. In the movie Robin Williams plays a new English teacher in an all boys boarding school. He’s a unique teacher, unlike any other teacher the elite- rather stuck up- school has ever had. The boys, unsure about him at first, come to respect him and then to love him.

Because of his dynamic teaching, the boys come to love the subject more than ever before. They form the Dead Poet’s Society to read the poetry of long-dead poets. But the society becomes more than that to the friends. Throughout the movie, Robin Williams character uses the motto Carpe Diem. It’s Latin for “Seize the Day.”

The phrase stuck with me, and I loved it as a motto for life. And then I came across some verses in Ephesians that made me realize that this is a very Biblical idea.

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:15-16

“Making the most of every opportunity”- I have to admit that I don’t always do that. I often find myself in the whirl of days wishing time would pass more quickly.

 When summer comes, the weather will be nicer and it will be easier to get outside and exercise.

 When fall comes, we’ll get on a better schedule and I’ll get more done.

 When the kids get older, I can spend more time in ministry.

 When the week is over and it is the weekend, I’ll feel more rested.

 Before I know it, I’m wishing my time away. Weeks pass into months and seasons change, and often I have missed the opportunities that I had because I was waiting until a better time.

But when I carpe diem– seize the day- I look for every opportunity today to do what God is leading me to do. I’m not waiting. I’m not putting it off. I’m doing it now.

I’ll make that phone call and invite someone over now when I feel God’s prompting, not later.

I’ll pick up my Bible and get started with just a chapter or two that I can make time to read.

I’ll go ahead and take that walk today, even if it’s a bit chilly.

I need to remember to make the most of opportunity that God gives me today. I don’t need to wait until just the right moment comes along because that moment may not come. I am to follow God’s leading today, right now.

Carpe Diem! Seize the day!