There comes a time in every girl’s life when she must ask herself what truly is important to her. Then she must proceed to ask herself if she is spending her life on those things.
Of course at the beginning of one year I naturally think on the last one. All the places I have gone, the people I have met, the stories that will be stored away as some of my “good ones,” the hurts I have trudged through, the new relationships, the new ways of thinking or eating or packing a suitcase or doing my hair or an endless list of what-have-yous. All the things that comprise a year. Is anyone else amazed at just how much a year can change things?
I still haven’t figured out whether greatness happens all at once or whether it is a slow progression over time, but one thing I do know is that most of the big things in life happen all at once...and you usually never saw them coming.
In looking back to where I was 365 days ago I NEVER would have thought that I would have been the places this year that I was, meeting the people I did, or now having the relationships that I do and being surprised by how quickly they have developed.
There is a tendency for me to get morose that 2011 is over (or whatever year has just ended---I can easily be morose), the same way I feel upon finishing a fantastic book. Kind of a let down, if I am being honest. Sentimental is probably not the top descriptor that people would use for me, but sometimes I shock myself by how much random things can affect me in such a sentimental way, or how moved I am by the swiftness of life.
At least I am not alone. David prayed, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may have a heart of wisdom,” (Psalm 90:12). I think David got the answer that the heart of wisdom that comes from knowing fleeting days produces a gratitude for the faithfulness of the Lord. I mean, why does God love us? In the scope of time our life on this planet is but a breath, a fading flower. Why does he love us? Why is he not a Deistic God that set the world in motion and then stepped back? Why does he care about my day? Why does he care about my sometimes morose feelings? The answer of course is while our life lived here on this planet will be over before we know it, WE will not be over.
One of my favorite verses in the Bible comes at the end of the book of Jonah. God has sent this rebellious prophet to the city of Nineveh, to warn them that their sin will soon be bringing their swift end unless they repent and turn. Most of you know what happens next: he goes the opposite way, gets swallowed by a large fish after being thrown off his ship, gets spit up exactly where God wanted him in the first place, and then finally gets the message to the people. Sounds all hunky-dorie at this point, but then he gets all attitudey and is angry that God has compassion on these lost people. In the height of all of Jonah’s seemingly-ridiculousness he has the audacity to say to God, “I am angry enough to die!!” What strikes me the most is God’s response back to his hissy-fit. “Jonah, you have been concerned about things that make no difference in this world, but this city has 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left. Should I not be concerned?”
SHOULD I NOT BE CONCERNED?????
Do you think he should not be concerned? Let me just say this: If life ended when you die, he should not be concerned.
God loves us because when we die, that is not our end. This collection of fast moving years is just the start of a never-ending reality. And he wants the rest of our eternity to be spent with him.
Knowing the truth of fleeting days is supposed to lead your mind to the magnitude of endless eternities.
In light of our “littleness” is it not the most beautiful thing that God hasn’t let go yet? That he, the Eternal One, loves the fleeting ones? That he is faithful to the breath-life ones? That he is CONCERNED?!
When I dwell on the faithfulness of God any feelings of morose about my fleeting life fade away. I don’t know what heaven looks like, but I know Jesus is there. And that’s enough. But while I am still here on this earth, if I have any life left to live, I want it to be lived for him. I know I probably sound like a never-ending beating drum, but really, is there any other logical response to his love, his counsel, his faithfulness, then a life lived for HIM as the priority?
Teach me, O Lord, to number the days of 2012. May my lips say over and over again, “Great, O very great, has been your faithfulness.”
No comments:
Post a Comment