Why you should number your days

Grandma Suzy's Funeral

Grandma Suzy was the first close relative to me who died. We loved grandma Suzy. She was so sweet and pleasant. She was ancient from the first time I saw her. Her false teeth creeped me out a little, but that didn't matter. I loved her.

I remember my grandma Suzy's funeral very well. I was twelve years old and ignorant of so many life issues. Sitting through the funeral I began to think about Suzy's life. For the first time I realized that Grandma Suzy was not always old. There was a time when she was a little girl. There was a time when she learned to brush her own teeth and comb her own hair. There as a time when Grandma Suzy learned to drive a car. She went to high school. She dated. Grandma Suzy was not Grandma Suzy most of her life. She was just Suzy. She was a person with a life and friends and dreams just like me.

Flooded with Perspective

These thoughts prompted me to think about my childhood and my age. I was older this year than the last. I would be older again the following year. One day, my grandchildren will attend my funeral and will wonder about my life, just like I wondered about Grandma Suzy's. 

What will they know of me? What will they remember? What things in this world will have made impact on those around me? These and many other questions flooded my mind. It was in this moment that I 'numbered my days' for the first time. I realized I was mortal. 

The grave welcomes each one of us at some point. We leave behind memories and relationships. We take nothing with us.

The Investment that Lasts

How should this inform our lives? Simple. We should spend our time doing those things that matter eternally! Time is short. Wealth doesn't last! Power is temporary! Eternity continues on.

The only things that last are the purposes of God. This life is short, but the next is forever. If you know him you will continue on in his presence for eternity. If not, you will get what you desire and be left outside his presence for eternity. 

So what about you? Do you see life through eternal lenses? Do you run all your commitments through an eternal filter? Or do you simply drift through life without realizing how temporary your years on this earth truly are?

May you see your life through eternal lenses. May you 'number your days' and invest your time in what lasts. And my you find everlasting joy in God's presence.

Psalm 90:12-17 12  So teach us to number our days 

that we may get a heart of wisdom. 

 13  Return, O Lord! How long? 

Have pity on your servants! 

 14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, 

that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. 

 15  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, 

and for as many years as we have seen evil. 

 16  Let your work be shown to your servants, 

and your glorious power to their children. 

 17  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, 

and establish the work of our hands upon us; 

yes, establish the work of our hands!