So, did you stay up this past week to ‘watch’ the time change and usher in 2018? To me, it was more enjoyable to just go to bed early and wake up in the New Year! Each year that goes by seems to speed up, just a little more, though the seconds are the same. How about you, do you do anything special at the turning of the calendar each year? Do you take inventory of all that has transpired over the past year and look to where you want to make changes? Some make new goals or resolutions of how they will work to improve their lives. Someone even asked me to rate the year (0-10) on how well I though it went. What will the new year have for you?
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12
The time each of us are given each day is the same, yet how we use it varies widely. Have you ever felt that you have ever ‘wasted’ a day because you were unproductive or that some bad choices led you to a place you would rather not be? Or maybe the opposite is true as well, where you had an extremely productive day, or the experiences were something you will remember the rest of your life? We can even expand this to a whole lifetime. Who comes to your mind when asked if you know of someone who has basically ‘wasted’ their life, likely through consistent selfish actions, or the number of people they have hurt over time? Just looking at a day or a year out of our lives can help us get a good idea of how things are going, and where we need to improve, to forgive, or to grow in our future.
Lord, what are human beings that you care for them, mere mortals that you think of them? They are like a breath; their days are like a fleeting shadow. Psalm 144:3-4
Occasionally, each passing year serves to remind us of how short our time on this big globe really is. We see babies and children grow up quickly before us and wonder, ‘what will that 2 year old be doing 40 years from now?’ and at the same time, we wonder if we will even be here in 40 years. We see how fleeting material things are as money comes to us and goes just as quickly, and how relationships cannot be bought and sold as easily as things. We look at how we have grown closer or further apart in our relationships with others and with God over the years and wonder how things will go this next year. We see society change around us, for better or worse, and wonder if it will influence us, or if we will be salt and light to the world we encounter. Have you made any plans to spend your time any differently this year?
Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Psalm 90:10
So, as we start our first steps into this New Year, let us choose 1 or 2 things to focus our attention on that can help us produce better fruit in our lives. It may take some discipline for us to give up some things so that we can have time to invest into other things we know are better for us. Whether that be physical in how we sleep, exercise, or eat, or more spiritual and relational in how we spend time with God or others, good things can happen when we invest in the right ways. Also consider how you may give more effectively in your use of money and time, so the rewards will last long after we are gone.
All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever 1 Peter 1:24
Forever in Christ,
Clark
