TODAY IS…

a good day to look at the clock.

“You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to You; at best, each of us is but a breath.”  Psalm 39:5 NLT

In the backs of our minds, we are all acutely aware that the clocks of our lives start ticking down from the moment we are born. At that moment, only God knows exactly how much time is on that clock. The best we can do is pray that we live long, “normal” lives. Beyond that, it is out of our hands.

When we are young, we feel like we are “immortal,” and we live like we are “indestructible.” Of course, a sense of mortality enters after we have been exposed to death, but even then, we consider a short life with an abrupt ending to be something that happens to other people, not to us.

We wind up spending a good many years chasing after the material pleasures, comforts, and rewards that can be found in this life. Yet far too few of us devote enough time preparing for an eternal life with God. Even as we proclaim our faith and let those around us know that we await our time to be with God, many of us spend all of our time focused on the here and now with very little attention paid to the hereafter.

Many of us know, or have known, people who have developed a terminal illness such as a cancer that has proven to be incurable. Those of us who have gone through the process have noticed the change in the sick person as they focus on what is next.

Their priorities change.

They want to spend more time with family and friends. They want to spend more time with God. Many of them are afraid because there are doubts that they have lived properly and in a manner that will guarantee them an eternity of peace and joy in the loving presence of God. But their focus is all on preparation. They see that the end, for them, is near and they realize that what comes after is far more important than the here and now.

Each one of us has been “terminally ill” since the day we were born. Time is short, even for those of us who will live what we think is a very long life.

None of us knows when our clock will run down, so it is important to know what is important and live each day in readiness for the tomorrow.

It may just turn out to be the first day of our eternity.

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Taken from “TODAY IS….A Gift From God”, (C) 2013 Tony Casson