09/09/09 - Numbering the days of our lives...

Calendars can be a funny thing. They can also turn the world on it's ear.

Just a little while back we endured the year of the ultimate, world-wide hype since…well I can't remember one like that. Y2K. The end of civilization as we know it. People sold their homes, moved to the mountains, set up communes. We all bought just a little extra, just in case.

I got up early. I missed the very first location to see the magic 2000 roll into view. Such a little island, I thought it didn't have any real significance to the question at hand. Then came Sydney, Australia. They knew they'd be the first major city to roll into the new numbers and were they ready. Spectacular. Dazzling. Magnificent. And all without a single Y2K hitch.

It was a lot of fun watching the rest of the world roll across my TV screen that December day in 1999. As soon as I saw Italy survive the celebration with all the lights on, I knew the United States wouldn’t have any problems. Why Italy, you ask? I have no idea. I just thought if any European country would bite the Y2K dust it would be Italy. But they survived, I relaxed.

Then people started having all kinds of fun with the dates. The first one was 9/9/99. That was supposed to be a dress rehearsal for the 1/1/00. Seems that computer programmers used a series of 9's to shut down the computer and the fear was that the date alone would crash computers all over the world. Didn't happen.

But what about the others. When you used all the numbers of the year, such as 11/19/1999, you had the last all odd numbered date until 1/1/3111. Now there's a thought. Not to be ignored, what about the even side? Well, the last all even date was 8/28/888. The next one will be 2/2/2222. I might not be around for that one. I might not be around. Now there's a thought!

If I'm not going to be around for any of these dates, what difference does it make.

All the difference in the world.

The realization of my eventual demise should startle me. It should offend me. It should rattle my cage and motivate me! How will I spend the time between now and then? How can all these funny dates remind me to do better.
Rolling into the year 2000 was a big deal. Was it really different from any other New Year? Apart from it's numerical significance, certainly not. Advertisers and merchandisers certainly used it to their advantage. There was even a clothing line, I think, 01-01-00.

Then there's cute dates like:  06/01/06.  01/02/03. 10/09/08. 1/2/12

We can use these to our advantage as well. Dates are benchmarks. Little notches along the timeline of our lives that remind us that it's passing.

Here's one to try. Look at the dates coming up through the year 2012 where all three components will be the same. Like this: 01/01/01, this year will be 09/09/09, and on through to 12/12/12. They happen almost thirteen months apart each time.

Take advantage of them! The next series won't be start until 01/01/3001. Longer than I'd like to wait.

Each time one of these dates roll around ask yourself: How am I doing? How am I growing? How is my faith? My fitness? My example? How is my relationship my spouse? Friends? Children? How are my goals? What are my plans? What am I learning? What am I teaching others? How can I do better?

Dates. Just numbers on a calendar. Numbering our days.