All of God's blessings to you, my friend! Ready for a conversation with God? Let's do it! But first let's remember to let God be the one who decides what we need to hear. The conversation starts with him, the sovereign King.
I'm taking in the thoughts of Psalm 39 on this beautiful Thursday. It's not expressing the mood I feel today. I'm up and this text is down. But before I move away from it, there may still be something I should hear. So I'm giving it a second read and a third... Here's one thing that I think God wants me to apply:
Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. (v. 4-5)
Thank you for that reminder, God. But I'm all too aware of it. I think a lot about how quickly the time passes, how fast the years seem to be blowing by. I see it especially in my children as they grow. A lifetime seems long when you think about it, but the actual living of it goes by so fast. And I wonder how many people rush through their lives and one day come to the moment of their death and realize that they never got around to truly living.
I don't want to be that guy! I don't want to waste my life on trivial stuff. I don't want to fail to experience the joy of the little blessings. I don't want to miss out on the big ones either just because I was too afraid to trust God and take a risk. I want to spend the time I should with my kids, my loved ones and my friends, and especially my God. I want to accomplish something I can take with me into eternity, something that will last and continue to make ripples for good after I'm gone. I can't let the clutter of this life keep me from what's most important. There is only so much time...and then it's gone.
It isn't exactly inspiring but it is motivational. God has given me my one life to live here and now. And it's not going to last long.
And so, Lord, my only hope is in you. (v. 7)
I'm going to live a whole lot longer on the other side of death than I will on this side. It's like comparing an inch worm to light ray from the furthest star, multiplied exponentially into infinity. So yes, I'm going to live now in preparation for then. I'm going to make sure that I use this little test run we call "life" to launch me into the real thing yet to come! There's just no other way that makes sense.
Check out the video below of a relevant song by Rebecca St. James. But first, can I ask you a favor in return for the time I put into this blog? Share this entry to your Facebook page by clicking on the Facebook icon below (F). Also, share your thoughts and reflections by commenting below. Choose Anonymous from the "Comment As" field, or sign in first with your Google account (top right corner of the page). Thank you so much!
We really need a lot more reminders of this, Chris. Life is so short, even though when we are going through it we don't see that. Still, every time the sun goes from the East to the West is another day, and we have either "used" it well in God's way, or "abused it" to our own sorrow. Time...listen to the ticking of the clock -- that is our reality. I at the end of my life and it went so quickly!
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