Life is but a vapor

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Today Is My Eternity: TIME

 

     “How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon. December is here                                        before it’s June. My goodness how the time has flewn.                                                                                     How did it get so late so soon?”¹

 TIME: We often wish to hold onto it-to linger in the moment, the hour, the day- and make time pass more slowly. Just one more day, just one more hour, just one more moment. . .  And then we will have time to say what we want to say, do what we intend to do, and be what we think we can be. But time just, somehow, slips away—and we don’t have time enough, we reason.

TIME: It does not wait for us. It does not hold “the moment.” It does not provide the “right time.” We decide what to do with the time God gives us. The main focus and allocation of our time should be to follow the Lord, obey His Word, and wake up to the reality that Time does pass and it really could be “too late too soon.”

11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. (Romans 13:11-12)

TIME: It gives us the hope to change. It grants us the opportunities to make a difference. It bestows us with the gift of each second to unwrap and open the possibilities.

9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good  to  all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.               (Galatians 6:9-10)

TIME: Isn’t it about time we DID SAY what we wanted to say, we DID DO what we intended to do, and we DID BECOME what we wanted to become—before we end up asking ourselves “How did it get to be so late so soon?”

 “God will bring into judgment
    both the righteous and the wicked,
  for there will be a time for every activity,
    a time to judge every deed.” (Ecclesiastes 3:17)

TIME: It won’t last forever here. It will last forever with the Lord. There is much to do in the time God grants us in this life. Let us “put on the armor of light” and boldly SAY what the Lord would have us say, DO what He would have us do, and BECOME what we know we must become-like Christ- to make a change, a difference, and open the possibilities to “do good to all people.”

What we do-or don’t do- each and every today affects our eternity in a forever way.

 1 Dr. Seuss.  http://www.goodreads.com/quotes

(Sharon G. Tate blog 08/18/19)  teacherforjesus.com  Meditations on God’s Word

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God’s Glory of Change: Passing Through Life’s Seasons

 

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?

You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. (James 4:14)

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The day was cloudy and somewhat brisk, a typical fall day. Leaves were falling to the ground as the wind picked up. I looked at the changing leaves ahead on my drive to the church building and knew winter was in the air. My thoughts became true all too soon as heavy flakes began dropping from the sky, making visibility difficult. I was now making my way through a blizzard of snow.

I had to scrape heavy, wet snow off my car after I completed printing the church    bulletin. Yet, two hours later, the snow disappeared, and the green grass was visible once again. It could have been the start of spring, except for the events that had just occurred and the changing colors of falling leaves.

The seasons seemed to play out before me in a few hours. God’s glory of change. We live through the seasons in our lives, not quite expecting the fall to come so soon or the winter to hit us with the reality of its arrival. Are we truly prepared?

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. 

(Proverbs 27:1)

 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

 “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days;
    let me know how fleeting my life is.

You have made my days a mere handbreadth;
the span of my years is as nothing before You.
Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. (Psalm 39:4-5)

 In the season of our lives when the leaves are falling to the ground, variant hues            swirling downward, we should become more introspective by examining our lives and the number of days, how fleeting. They fade before us like the fallen leaves that  become brittle, crumbling within our hands.

In preparation for the inevitable snow and cold of our winter season, we know, with assurance through Him, that new life awaits in an eternal season of spring.

God’s glory of change. His renewal of life. The snow melts,  and the grass is green once again.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?   (Matthew 6:25-27)

Through each season, God is there. We must trust in Him to help us through each change, knowing that a new life awaits us after this one ceases to be. For some, the time may come before the falling of leaves, the autumn of their days.

Therefore, we must be prepared to meet our Lord through each season of                              accountability  before God.

Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.

 (Sharon G. Tate blog 10/28/18) teacherforjesus.com Meditations on God’s Word