Psalm 39
4 ‘Lord, let me know my end,
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.
5 You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah
We know we only have a limited days on this earth. When we are young, we feel like the days are so long and we have so much time. The end feels like so far away. Even when we are middle aged, we still tend to “waste” time. I don’t mean waste in the sense of not being serious. I mean waste in the way of not appreciating the days we are given. We do not always pay attention to the gift that is today. We don’t spend time savoring the days or treasuring the moments. Those thoughts almost sound cliché.
The reason they sound like that is because we have work to do, meetings to attend, children to take care of, phone calls to make, and meals to prepare. We have a full agenda and we can barely keep up. Who has the time to think about savoring the day or treasuring a moment. But, that’s exactly the problem. We get so caught up in the “to-do” list of the day we forget how incredibly good today really is. We can get so wrapped up in our day-to-day lives we don’t really see how beautiful life is around us. We miss it. And we don’t realize it until it’s the end. Then, we wish we had paid more attention.
What if we did what the Psalmist mentions in Psalm 39? What if we asked God to give us a measure of our days and realize we have just a few breaths to appreciate? If we take a moment to realize just how fleeting it all is, would we wake up and take notice? Would we stop from our list and look up at the goodness all around? Would we realize just what a gift we actually have been given?
Maybe today is the day we begin to stop- if even for just a moment. Maybe we look around, breathe deep, and give thanks. Maybe we turn our busyness into gratitude. We just don’t have many of these days, so please do not miss a one. Today is the day to start.
SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY 
Leave a comment