You're Gonna Miss This

She was starin' out the window of their SUV


Complain'in saying "I can't wait to turn 18"


She said, "I'll make my own money and I'll make my own rules."


Momma put the car in park out there in front of the school


And she kissed her head and said, "I was just like you"


(chorus);


You're gonna miss this


You're gonna want this back


You're gonna wish these days


Hadn't gone by so fast


These are some good times


So take a good look around


You may not know it now


But you're gonna miss this





Before she knows it she's a brand-new bride


In a one bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by


He tells her it's a nice place, she says "It'll do for now"


Then she talks about babies and buying a house


Daddy shakes he head and and says, "baby just slow down"


(repeat chorus)


Five years later there's a plumber working on the water heater


Dogs barking, phones ringing, one kid crying, the other one screamin'


And she keeps apologizin'


He says, "They don't bother me"


I've got two kids of my own


One's twenty-six, one's thirty-three


Huh,...it's hard to believe


But you're gonna miss this....





(from "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins)

Peter was a boy who was strong and able, yet sadly flawed by an attitude of impatience. Always dissatisfied with his present condition, Peter spends his life daydreaming about the future.

One day while wandering in the forest, Peter meets a strange old woman who gives him a most tantalizing opportunity...the chance to skip the dull, mundane moments of life. She hands Pater a silver ball from which a tiny gold thread protrudes. "This is your life thread", she explains. "Do not touch it and time will pass normally. But if you wish time to pass more quickly, you only have to pull the thread a little way and an hour will pass like a second. But I warn you, once the thread has been pulled out, it cannot be pushed back in again."

This magical thread seems the answer to all of Peter's problems. It is just what he has always wanted. He takes the ball and runs home.

The following day in school Peter has his first opportunity to put the silver ball to use. The lesson is dragging and the teacher scolds Peter for not concentrating. Peter fingers the silver ball and gives the thread a slight tug. Suddenly the teacher dismisses the class, and Peter is free to leave school. He is overjoyed!. How easy his life will now be. From this moment, Peter begins to pull the thread a little every day.

But soon Peter begins to use the magic thread to rush through larger portions of life. Why waste time pulling the thread just a little every day when he cal pull it hard and complete school altogether? He does so and finds himself out of school and apprenticed in a trade. Peter uses the same technique to rush through his engagement to his sweetheart. He cannot bear to wait months to marry her, so he uses the gold thread to hasten the arrival of his wedding day.

Peter continues this pattern throughout his life. When hard, trying times come, he escapes them with his magic thread. When the baby cries at night, when he faces financial struggles, when he wishes his own children to be launched in careers of their own. Peter pulls the magic thread and bypasses the discomfort of the moment.

But, sadly, when he comes to the end of his life, Peter realizes the emptiness of such an existence. By allowing impatience and discontentment to rule him, Peter has robbed himself of life's richest moments and memories. With only the grave to look forward to, he deeply regrets ever having used the magic thread.

The moral to the story?..... Don't be so quick to want to rush through life. Whether the times are tough and disappointments arise, or whether the times are exciting and exhilarating.... it's all just a part of the journey...and the journey is the gift we have in this life here on earth. Take it all in,....you might just miss something you'll regret....