A Time Traveler
“So teach us to number our days, that
we may present to Thee a heart of wisdom.”
~ Psalm 90:12
My first encounter with the death of someone close to me was
when my Grandma Lee went home to Jesus. As a young woman in the first years of
marriage and teaching, I found myself shook, coping with the reality and
finality of dying and life as I’d experienced it taking a dramatic shift. We’ve
each been in that moment, some at much earlier ages and some with a great deal
more tragedy and suddenness involved. We’re left with unfamiliar emotions,
trying to stand in foreign territory. And the voice that God used to place me
back on stable ground was that of my Grandma James.
“Amy, this
is the way God’s planned it. All of us, Grandma Lee, you, me, Grandpa – We’re
leaves on a beautiful big tree, honey. We have our time to blossom and shine,
and then when the time is right and our season is over we wither and fall off
into the breeze.”
Her message was to accept, to trust, to love, and then to
LIVE fully during our season. And boy did she ever take her own wise advice!
TIME. We all have it; we all spend it. Believers and
nonbelievers alike. I am struck by that
simple concept frequently. Every one of us, without exception, is spending
their commodity in either pointless or meaningful ways. We squander or invest
it. What will we do with the time we’ve been given? What will we allow God to
do in us? Through us? How will we spend it, and will it matter? Yes there’s a
heavy sense of responsibility here, but isn’t there an unbelievable OPPORTUNITY as well?
The psalmist’s cry in Psalm 90 is to JOURNEY WELL in the
time that he has been granted. Knowing that the number of his days is limited,
he asks God for a heart of wisdom in order to use them well and live with the
right priorities. The words from a childhood song come to mind: “This world is
not my own, I’m just a passing through.” I am a time traveler. I am granted an
unknown number of days to love my God and impact the world He has placed me in
as I pass through it. Last night my eldest son and I were talking in depth
about the year ahead and where we felt God wanted us to focus and invest our
time and energies, knowing that we can’t do it all, yet we deeply want to do it
well. This verse speaks to me about seeking God’s wisdom in these choices,
allowing Him to craft and designate my priorities, and then surrendering the
outcomes to Him. I’m asking Him to direct my eyes, heart, and mind to that
which matters most to Him. Proper alignment.
And I pray as the psalmist did, that as I travel through
this life, with whatever number of days I am given, that I too will journey
well.
