Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”
John 10:10 (NKJV)
By the time he called early this morning, he himself had probably been up for a couple of hours. For more than thirty-five years he has been an encourager of mine and many others, and an example of what God calls us to do with the life He gave us, for ourselves and for others.
At age seventy-seven, and after having doctors tend to some heart issues he was having not too long ago, he is back at life with a vengeance, on the tractor, checking up on friends, following family, and putting in very full days living the life God calls him to live. He just returned with his bride from a weekend trip to watch his grandson play in a Southeastern Conference (SEC) football game. He wouldn’t miss it, or anything else his family is involved with, and he already has his reservations for his grandson’s remaining games. He likes football—but it’s his grandson that causes him to pick himself up and go.
At any age, we always have a choice—to embrace, set the direction, dream, reach and live the lives God has given us, or not. At any age—despite our health, our economic situation, our opportunities or disappointments—we have a choice to choose the abundant life Christ came and offered as a gift to us—or not. An abundant life that is not only life as good as it can be, but when walking with Him, life beyond what we could ever imagine.
A number of years ago the iconic American humorist, writer and lecturer Mark Twain wrote this for us to think about today:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
I don’t know what’s going on in your life right now. I don’t know what season of life you are in right now, or where you are on your list of things you had hoped to achieve, do and accomplish in your life. I do know that you and I have today, and that we may in fact have tomorrow and many days thereafter—all the way into eternity.
I do know that whether seven, seventy-seven, ninety-seven or beyond, God’s desire for us for each day is to live an abundant life with Him. One day we will kneel before Him either worn out from living that life to the fullest which He called us to do, or we’ll kneel there with plenty of tread still left on the souls of our shoes. I know which I will choose. What about you? Let me suggest that you choose abundance. Choose fullness. Choose reaching and dreaming and becoming all you were meant to be.
With that in mind, may I suggest further that—right now, wherever you are—you throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails and explore, dream and discover all that God still has in store for you in the life He has created and expects you to live.
Today, tomorrow and in all your tomorrows, all the way into eternity.
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2010. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
