James 4:14 "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."
For whatever reason, I woke up with this verse on my mind. I just kept thinking "If you knew this was your last day, what would you have to say about your life?" And I immediately thought "I've had a good life." Yes, there have been lots of ups and downs along the way---that is just the way life is--but I've had a good life. I have a group of people who love me (even when I make it hard), I have a handful of faithful, praying friends (which is more than most people have), and I feel like I've had a positive impact in the lives of people from several generations. My kids turned out ok. My grandchildren are precious and imperfect (they get the second characteristic from me!) I got to walk both of my parents to the end of this life as they left for the next. And I have HOPE!! Hope because Jesus is my Savior. Hope because He promised me a life fulfilled! John 10:10"... I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Hope that after this life I will sit at His feet and that He is preparing me a mansion (Y'all can read those other versions and just get an apartment if you want to, but this girl is getting a mansion!)
I would hope that people remembered more of the good times and fewer of the bad that we've shared. I'd want there to be more laughter than tears. I'd hope somebody could say that they saw Jesus in me. I'd hope somebody would say that their life was better because our lives crossed. And I want to continue to do the things that would make these statements true for as much time as I have.
Maybe it is because we are approaching Momma's birthday and Christmas. And just went through the month when Daddy went home as did some of my favorite uncles. Maybe it is because the hardest part of the semester is over and I haven't started gearing up for the next--and my last. Maybe it is because Bro. Aaron made us think about it a couple of weeks ago. Or maybe its just that God wanted to remind me that my time on this earth is limited. Maybe He wanted me to remember that I only have a limited amount of time to tell people about Him, to share His love, to be His messenger. There could be a lot of maybes. And really, it doesn't even matter why I was having these thoughts. What matters is that I did. And now, so have you.
All that leads me, and you as well, to ponder on what we are doing with our lives. We can't go back and fix what we messed up 10, 20, 40 years or months or days or hours ago. We can, however, be purposeful in what we do from this very moment on. We need to be intentional with how we live our days because that will eventually make up our lives. If I live to be 100 or die at 57, I want to know that I did something that made my time on earth worthwhile. Until the very end I want to be able to say "I've had a good life." My prayer is that you can do the same.
Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands."
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