The Price of a Day

You can find all the Jan. 26 posts here: https://bearbryantmemories.wordpress.com/

Every January 26, I pause.

I pause to remember Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant—not only the championships, the records, or the houndstooth hat that became iconic, but the man who taught lessons that reached far beyond football.

One of those lessons came in 1982.

At a team meeting that year, Coach Bryant reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, folded piece of paper. It was worn, creased, and clearly carried often. He told us he kept it with him as a reminder of what truly mattered.

Then he read it to us.

It wasn’t a play.
It wasn’t a motivational speech.
It was a poem.

And when he finished reading, the room was silent.

Here is the poem Coach Bryant carried—and lived by:

The Beginning of a New Day

Heartsill Wilson

This is the beginning of a new day.
God has given me this day to use as I will.

I can waste it or use it for good.
What I do today is very important
because I am exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever,
leaving something in its place I have traded for it.

I want it to be a gain, not a loss—good, not evil.

Success, not failure, in order that I shall not regret
the price I paid for it.

Coach Bryant understood that poem in a way few people do.

He knew that every morning, God hands us a day—twenty-four brand-new hours—and the price of that day is our very life. You can’t borrow time. You can’t save it for later. You either spend it well, or you lose it forever.

That lesson stayed with me.

Years later, it became a song I wrote called “The Price I Paid for Today.” It’s my own reflection on that moment in 1982, and on the truth Coach Bryant impressed upon us so simply and so powerfully: time is not free.

Every day asks a question of us.

Did we spend it on love or anger?
Did we build or did we tear down?
Did we honor God with the wage we asked for—or settle for something less?

Coach Bryant didn’t preach long sermons. He didn’t have to. He lived what he taught. He understood discipline, accountability, and faith—not just in football, but in life.

As we remember him today, I believe this is the question he would still want us to ask ourselves:

What did I spend my time on today?

Because when this day is over, it’s gone.
And the price we paid for it… is our life.

“See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”
— Ephesians 5:15–16

Thank you, Coach.
For the lessons that never fade.

You can find the song here: The Price I Paid for Today