Our recent vacation to Italy concluded in Milan with a walking tour of the city that peaked with a viewing of da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.”

Da Vinci completed his fresco of Christ’s final meal with His disciples in 1498, and this masterpiece covers an end wall of the dining hall at the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan.

During our viewing, our guide provided biblical context about the painting, explained da Vinci’s decision to paint on wet plaster to achieve more detail, and told us how that decision created preservation problems practically from the day the paint dried.

Today, “The Last Supper” is the most reproduced religious painting of all time, and it also is one of the world’s most studied, satirized and scrutinized paintings. Dan Brown’s bestseller “The Da Vinci Code” added to the mystery surrounding this painting.

A Code for Living Our Lives

But da Vinci shared another perspective that has lingered with me.

As our tour concluded, our guide shared with us this quote from da Vinci: “As a well-spent day brings happy sleep, so a life well spent brings happy death.”

The da Vinci code for living is simple, powerful and timeless: Every day is a gift. It’s up to us cherish it.

What will you do to make today count?