When we visit a place of worship, we offer flowers as a symbol of our devotion. We take great care to bring fresh and fragrant flowers. We want our offering to be as pristine as possible. We would never offer wilted flowers in a temple or a church.
And yet, we offer wilted flowers every day. The wilted flowers are our own selves. We wait to offer ourselves until our body has become frail, our mind has decayed, our age has advanced, and our energies have been spent. We give God the leftovers.
As the Ninth Sikh Master, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, reminds us in Salok Mahala 9 (Ang 1426, Sri Guru Granth Sahib):
ਤਰਨਾਪੋ ਇਉ ਹੀ ਗਇਓ ਲੀਓ ਜਰਾ ਤਨੁ ਜੀਤਿ ॥ ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਭਜੁ ਹਰਿ ਮਨਾ ਅਉਧ ਜਾਤੁ ਹੈ ਬੀਤਿ ॥੩॥
tarnāpo iu hī gaïo līo jarā tanu jīti. kahu nānak bhaju hari manā aüdh jātu hai bīti. ॥3॥
Your youth has passed away like this, and old age has overtaken your body. Says Nanak, meditate upon the Lord, O mind; your life is fleeting away.
ਬਿਰਧਿ ਭਇਓ ਸੂਝੈ ਨਹੀ ਕਾਲੁ ਪਹੂਚਿਓ ਆਨਿ ॥ ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਰ ਬਾਵਰੇ ਕਿਉ ਨ ਭਜੈ ਭਗਵਾਨੁ ॥੪॥
biradhi bhaio sūjhai nahī kālu pahūchio āni. kahu nānak nar bāvare kiu na bhajai bhagavānu. ॥4॥
You have grown old, and still you do not understand that death is overtaking you. Says Nanak, O bewildered man! Why do you not remember God?
We rarely seed, weed, and feed the garden of spirituality when we are young and full of energy. We tell ourselves that there will always be tomorrow, when our material pursuits have been completed and we can finally find the time and energy for meditation and philanthropy. We keep kicking the can down the road, not realizing that this road of life may end at any time. We may never reach that tomorrow when we slow down to give thanks to the Universe and to pursue a higher purpose than day-to-day material existence.
My wife made an interesting observation about our vacations. She noted that it takes several days to orient ourselves to a new place: figuring out the roads, the places to eat, the places to shop. Just when we seem to have figured things out, it is time to leave. We rarely have time to enjoy the benefits of what we have learned. It is the same with life. By the time we have figured out what it is all about, it is time for us to depart this Earth. We leave with regrets about what we should have done and who we could have become.
Don’t wait for the flowers to wilt. Don’t put off that fitness regime, that healthy eating plan, that visit to the temple, that charitable cause you wanted to pursue, that spiritual work you have always wanted to do. Use your energy and your time when they are abundant. Don’t wait until you are old, infirm, and too sick to actualize your purpose. You are the freshest and most fragrant flower at this moment. You will only lose this freshness and fragrance as time advances. Today is the day.