“So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Psalm 90:12
Country music star Tim McGraw released a song in 2004 entitled, “Live Like You Were Dying”. The premise is if you were aware of the short number of days that you had left, you would live each day to the full. Some of the lyrics include “I went skydiving, I went Rocky Mountain climbing … and I loved deeper, and I spoke sweeter, and I gave forgiveness I’d been denying. Someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying."
Recently someone gave me this advice, “We ought to live like our spouse is dying.” If we could see our spouse’s life ebbing away, we would seek to serve our spouse more, instead of expecting our spouse to serve us! Greater love would be in our hearts, and more grace and kindness on our lips. The little character annoyances would fall away, and we would realize how each new day with our spouse is a gift from God Himself! Life is precious, but all of our lives are like a vapour, and we do not know what tomorrow will bring! How vital that we express and show our love to our spouses today, and to all those whom God has brought as a blessing into our lives!
Scripture takes the thought even further. Because life is short in comparison to eternity, we need to set our hearts on those things eternal. It certainly is not wrong to go skydiving or Rocky Mountain Climbing, but in all our plans and activities, we must strive to focus on eternity. Some years ago, YOLO was a popular acronym which stood for “you only live once”. But we know better! May God grant each of us a heart of wisdom, so that in all our serving, in all our relationships, in all our planning and all our activities, we may gain an eternal perspective and invest our time and our resources accordingly.
We live in a broken world, and there are many in our congregation who are in need of your loving care and your prayers. Please pray especially for those who are currently having to watch their spouse suffer, and for those who have already lost their spouse. May God bring comfort as only He can!