Skip to main content

Teach Us To Number Our Days


Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)

I hate to feel rushed. Most people do, I’m sure. My mornings are supposed to be filled with blog post writing and household duties. At some point recently, something went wrong with our furnace, just in time for cold, windy weather to roll in. I think it’s the thirty-something year old thermostat. I’m waiting for a call form the heating guy who is overwhelmed with calls due to the weather.
          Last Thursday’s trip to the emergency room resulted in a name of a primary care physician to call for Dad. We saw her yesterday morning and she gave me referrals to Palliative Care, Home Health Care, a podiatrist and an endocrinologist. More appointments. More paperwork. More money. More that I have to take care of. Having a family member in need of medical assistance who is not going to recover adds to the pressure.
         I’m not sharing this to get sympathy. It’s teaching me something that I need to learn: to number my days. Usually, I think of number my days in terms of “your days are numbered” – meaning that it won’t be long until someone kills you. What I’m thinking today is that number our days has to do with making each one count. When I have to be here at nine, and there at one-thirty, and then be available between six and seven because a repair guy is coming, I start valuing my time a little more. When I live out of my planner, I get more done and start making better decisions about what to do with the time I have.
          It’s dangerous, like asking for patience, but if I have to go through this time in which my life is disrupted and I’m being pulled in ten directions at once, I’m glad that at least I get to gain wisdom from it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen!

  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5)            Do you like roller coasters? I don't. You spend forever climbing a hill. You get to the top and have half a second, then you race down to a low point. Sometimes the racing down involves tying your insides into knots. At the bottom, you either have to be dragged up another hill or you get off the ride. Peter's life was a roller coaster from the time he met Jesus. There would be miracles, and then Jesus would teach things that didn't always make sense, and then they'd go out and perform miracles, and return to be taught. Peter was praised for giving the right answer to "Who do you say that I am?" Jesus said that said answer came from God. Peter was at the top of the hill.            ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Prayer Lists

                 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (I Peter 2:2-3)   In connection with what I wrote yesterday about the possibility that I’m wrong, I’m feeling the need to go back to basics - craving spiritual milk because somehow, I missed something. It’s a little embarrassing, craving milk like a newborn, but the truth probably is that we are newborns many times in many ways in our lives. From God’s perspective, we may never be anything more than newborns, forever needing that milk. On the other hand, being a newborn can also be exciting because so much is new. My mind is playing pinball - ricocheting from one idea to the next and through six more before it happens to hit the third again. The main topic is prayer. I have at least seven organizing structures all somewhat influenced by the movie War Room , which I’v...
Post a Comment
Read more