Skip to main content

Our Days Are Numbered


Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
          Has anyone had the same problem as I have over the past week or so? The day after Christmas was Monday. Tuesday was the second of January. Wednesday was Monday again. I write the day and date on Dad’s white board every morning, but the holidays have really messed with my internal calendar. Dad being up at least once during the night isn’t doing much for my internal clock either. I feel like singing the old Chicago song, “Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?”
          When my next to the last job was eliminated, I found that I wasted too much time. What was the rush? I could always ______ tomorrow. That was part of why I applied for a job where I ended up working for 13 years, because having a job, any job, would force me to be more organized and purposeful. Now that I’m “unemployed” again, I have some of the same problems. What does it matter if I don’t _________. There’s always tomorrow for dreams to come true…. (sing it!) Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I love ya, Tomorrow! That’s why I like accountability groups and goals. They provide some structure.
          But, what would it be like if we learned to number our days the way God does? First off, there’s the fact that God is outside of time. According to some, that means that any time is “now” to Him. Ignoring that tempting rabbit trail, I’ll only suggest what some other writers have written…to number our days right, we need to be present in the present, not living in either the past or the future. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn from the past or prepare for the future, just that we shouldn’t live there. Someday Isle doesn’t exist.
          I don’t know the answer to my question, but I have a few guesses that may or may not be true. We might learn to see our lives as a brief part in a larger whole. We might recognize that we need to change our priorities. We might recognize that our days (hours, seconds) are gifts God gives us that we can use well or badly, and learn how to use them better. To tell the truth, I’m a little afraid of this prayer because I don’t know what it means, but the promise attached is that we will gain a heart of wisdom. Since wisdom is one of my standard prayer requests, I guess this prayer must be mine….Lord, teach me to number my days, that I may gain a heart of wisdom.

Comments

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...

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...

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...