Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’”
James 4: 14-15 (NLT)
Whether we have realized it yet or not, our time here on earth is limited. No matter how uneasy that might make us feel, it’s an absolute fact.
No matter who you are, how young or how old, what measure of success, fame, or power by worldly standards you have attained, or wherever you live—mortality is the great leveler for us all.
What if I told you that you had thirty days to live? Or twenty days? Or ten? What would you say is important then? Would your days look any different than they do now? What if today was your last day?
It’s a stark reality we’re reminded of by James in the scripture above when he writes—“Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” Or in the other translation we read—“You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
Yet we live life as if it will go on forever, missing the best, the most important moments which are there for us to enjoy, and are there for us to add value to, and build into for eternity.
A few years ago, while attending some events at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I was introduced to a new friend by a mutual friend of ours. During our time together, he introduced me to the song entitled “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney, which he himself had just heard sung at another friend’s memorial service he attended in Jacksonville, Florida—a friend his age and gone way too soon. Listen to some of the words—
I turned on the evening news, Saw an old man being interviewed
turning a hundred and two today, Asked him what’s the secret to life?
He looked up from his old pipe, Laughed and said—
“All I can say is—Don’t blink, just like that you’re six years old
And you take a nap, and you wake up and you’re twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife.
Don’t blink, you just might miss your babies growing like mine did,
Turning into moms and dads,
Next thing you know your better half of fifty years is there in bed,
And you’re praying that God takes you instead
Trust me friend… [It] Goes faster than you think, so don’t blink”
I was glued to my TV, when it looked like he looked at me and said—
“Best start putting first things first”
‘Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can’t flip it over and start again.
Take every breath God gives you for what it’s worth [&] don’t blink…
Life goes faster than you think, so don’t blink.”
What is it you and I need to change today—to live the life we were meant to live with the important people God gave us? What are you doing now that can wait until another day? What do we need to change now, so we don’t miss the important people and moments of today?
When you think about it, we don’t have control over many things in life. We didn’t get to decide when or where we were born, who are parents are, or which time period and culture we would face.
We don’t get to decide the beginning and ending dates that will be on our memorial markers at the cemetery. We don’t know when our time on this earth will be up. It could be next week, next year or decades away. Only God knows—and He’s not saying.
But there is one thing we have a vast amount of control over—we get to decide how we’re going to live each day while we’re here.
So let’s live the life we were created to live, have the impact we were meant to have, in this one-time-around journey God has given you and me.
And as we do, let’s remember—“Don’t Blink!”
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2017. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
