Skip to main content

Number Our Days

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

            I have said before that wisdom is dealing with reality as reality, but today’s passage involves one of the pieces of reality that we don’t tend to get. Sometimes, we sing along, “There’s always…tomorrow… for dreams to come true…” meaning that we procrastinate and maybe lose our chance. Some of us sing, “Yesterday, all my trouble seemed so far away…how I long for yesterday…” with the same result. Sometimes, we put things away “for special” and may end up never using it. Or, we dream of a time when some special thing will happen, … and … then…  we will so what it is we’ve wanted to do. Then, there are the times when we think, “I have plenty of time.” What if we don’t?

            We don’t have unlimited time to do things. At some point God will close the books on our lives here. No matter how many days we have – and most of us don’t know how many that is – it won’t be enough, especially if we don’t get to work on some of them today.

            There is no way to get everything done we think we should, or that we think we’d like to. If we follow God, we’ll get the important stuff done.

            Holding on to yesterday too tightly keeps us from the good to be found today or tomorrow.

            Holding on to the desired possibilities of tomorrow keeps us from the good to be found in the past, or even today.

            Have you ever kept a record of what you did? Not what you wanted to do, but what you actually did, and how much time you spent doing it? For example, you might say you spent 30 minutes cleaning the kitchen. You may have spent ten minutes cleaning the kitchen, with the rest of the time spent daydreaming, looking at recipe cards, making a grocery list, arguing with an imaginary opponent, or even eating. Those might not be bad things. I’m not suggesting that any of us do one of those inventories – it would be too traumatic for me – but the point is that we tend to waste a lot of time without realizing it.

            So maybe, just maybe, today’s passage is one we should pray once in a while.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...