make it count

What’s the big deal? It’s just another day. March 31st, 2014. What’s so special about it? What even makes it noteworthy?

 

I don’t know about you, but this is how I feel about a lot of my days. Ho hum. It’s just another day in a string of seemingly endless days. Endless days when nothing ever changes and life goes on in much the same manner as it did yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that. 

 

Psalm 90:12 

¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Moses wrote this psalm. Moses who wasn’t known so much for his eloquence as his humility penned two lines in Psalm 90 that pack a powerful punch. 

¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

It’s so easy to take our days for granted, and, though, every once in a while we talk about the brevity of life in phrases such as, “You never know when your last day will come,” or “You’ve got to make each day count,” how many of us actually do—make our days count, that is.

If we truly never know when our last day on this earth will come, what are we doing in the meanwhile; taking our days for granted, wasting them, wishing them away?

One of my favorite songs by singer/songwriter, Chris Rice, succinctly says all that I am thinking but can’t express quite as eloquently. 

Every day is a journal page
Every man holds a quill and ink
And there's plenty of room for writing in
All we do and believe and think
So will you compose a curse
Or will today bring the blessing
Fill the page with a rhyming verse
Or some random sketching

I love the idea that life is like a journal page, because if you look at each day as a blessing it begs the question; what kind of days are you penning? 

It is interesting to me to watch life go by and days pass at an almost dizzying speed. In the midst of the everyday mundane, important and interesting things are happening whether I always recognize that or not.

When my kids were small every day seemed pretty much the same as the day before. In many ways, it felt as if nothing would ever change. But things did change—maybe in small inconsequential ways too minimal for the human mind to register. But though those days seemed endless they really weren’t. 

Each day did end. Both of my kids are school age now and it feels as though that happened in the blink of an eye.

If I could encourage you in any way today, it would be to remind you that life is short—too short and precious to waste any of it. Make the most of your days. Make them count. And just as Moses did, pray for a heart of wisdom—a heart that knows and understands that time is valuable and that each day is to be treasured and cherished because you truly never know when your last one will come.

¹² Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.