Tag: make the most of your time

  • Time is slipping by

    Make the most of it

    Time seems to be flying. It’s already nearing the end of August, and the schools will be starting up in a few weeks. The robins and other birds are beginning to flock up in preparation for their migration south. 

    The fruit trees are heavily laden, and you can see windfall apples wherever there are apple trees. The yellow jackets are getting more aggressive and swarm around anything resembling food, making barbeques and picnics a bit more challenging. We are starting to see the early turning leaves on some trees.

    School supplies are back in stores now. The giant Halloween store that pops up yearly in a vacant spot has already opened. Good luck if you need to replace a piece of summer clothing. Heavy jackets, anyone?

    Time passes. It is a simple fact of this life. Sometimes, it seems to race by, and other times, it creeps ever so slowly, but the clock just keeps ticking. I saw a photo of a child I saw recently as a newborn; she’s a teenager! How is that even possible?

    Time is a priceless commodity, which means that over the years, I have squandered great wealth by unwise use of it.

    We are given very few days to live this life, and none know how many except the Lord (and He isn’t telling).

    Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:13-14 ESV

    Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Psalm 89:47-48 ESV

    All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you. 1 Peter 1:24-25 ESV

    God has given us days to work and days to rest. He gives us seasons of great energy in our youth and seasons of less ability in our more senior years.

    The Lord has given us two incredible gifts. He has given us life itself and the opportunity to glorify God in that life.

    Make the most of it.

    Kevin

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    The Standoff – who wins?

    Jesus tells us to count the cost

    Times change but God doesn’t

    SUMMARY

    Watching the seasons turn reminded me how fast our days actually go, and how easy it is to waste time we can’t get back. Life is short and none of us know how many days we have — so let’s not waste the ones we’ve been given.

    TAKEAWAY

    The turning season — birds flocking, fading summer clothes, early leaves — is a vivid picture of how fast time moves

    Scripture (James 4:13-14, Psalm 89:47-48, 1 Peter 1:24-25) describes our life as a mist and grass that withers, while God’s word alone endures forever

    God has given us two gifts — life itself and the opportunity to glorify Him in it — so the call is to steward the days we’re given

  • A Mist- Our lives pass quickly

    Mist on Eagle Mountain, Abbotsford BC

    One of the fantastic things about living in the Fraser  Valley, so close to the coast, is the mist. Mists come and go, never the same from moment to moment or day to day.

    They can conceal part of the landscape, only to open up or move on, leaving it again. Late Saturday morning, I snapped today’s image with my phone.

    A layer of foggy mist covers most of the hill. The cell phone tower reminds me of a castle turret atop an island floating in the clouds, with nearby treetops appearing like more little islands.

    A few moments later, it was all concealed from my view. Several minutes passed, and the entirety of the hill was visible again. It was as if the clouds were causing the scenery to play peek-a-boo with us.

    Our lives have a lot in common with the mist. Our life may seem long in comparison to the entirety of time. It’s just a little blip on the radar. Our sixty, seventy, eighty, or more years color and shape things briefly, and then we’re gone, and things change.

    It is by relatively few for a short season if we are remembered at all when we’re gone. People go to great lengths to ensure their legacies, endowing schools and libraries, buying stadiums, and more. Sooner or later, someone replaces them, and even that legacy disappears into the mist of time.

    Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow. Psalm 144:4 ESV

    For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. Job 8:9 ESV

    For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. 1 Chronicles 29:15 ESV

    I’m not writing to depress you about the shortness of life. Instead, I want to remind you what a precious gift each and every moment is. Life, like a mist passes quickly

    Every breath we take is a gift from God. For believers, it is an opportunity to magnify the Lord and prepare for the blissful eternity of glory. For non-believers, this life is the closest they will ever come to paradise. Unless they turn to Christ before their passing, their eternity will make the worst days of their lives seem wonderful.

    Cherish each moment. It truly is a gift for the believer. Even our hard times strengthen and shape us to be more like Jesus. A faith that has not been tested is only a wish.

    I don’t know the specifics of what your day will bring. You might be on the mountaintop of joy and wonder, deep in the valley of pain and the shadow of death, or most likely somewhere in between.

    If you know Jesus, rejoice because He will use your circumstances for good. If you don’t yet know Him, take the time today to surrender and be reconciled to God.

    Whatever the day brings, know that God loves you and desires you to spend forever in Paradise with Him.

    Kevin

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