Our time on Earth is not a countdown from beginning to ending because we have no clue how many days we have! Rather, it’s a count-up from beginning to an uncertain number that represents our full time. Here. With purpose, or none. And most of our results are based on the choices we make. Do you believe every day counts?
Today, I’ve lived this number of days..___________.
Go ahead, click and see how long you’ve lived. [Source] It’s a fun exercise!
What do you do to make the day count?
It’s somewhat weird, but there is a country singer I follow on Twitter. He passed away recently, but when alive, and almost every day, he closes his communication down with a post similar to this.
Bring your head around to your heart’s way of thinking before you make any important decisions.
Let’s all make the day count! ~Charlie Daniels
Let’s all make the day count. He’s not trying to tell you what to do, and for each of us it’s different… This idea has hit me a number of times. If he can make his day count…what about me? You?
How Do We Make The Day Count?
Early mornings are special to me. My mind ranges far from home base and considers life as it happens around the globe. I consider the plight of others and then narrow my focus homeward to deal with the day as it will exist for me. Prayer, devotion, scripture…first on the list. Then tasks. Projects. Deadlines. The never-ending story of someone with a plate full of interests. My morning scope of scripture starts one way and bounces through both testaments until it settles on a thought. And it’s sometimes hard to isolate the thought to a single subject, or word. But I’ve been successful with this over the past several years.
This morning, my thought revolves around the idea of the number of days we have and evaluate how we are spending them. This is a job of evaluation. Weight and balance. Scales. Positives. Negatives. Up’s and downs. Think it through. Take an account.
Take An Accounting
The psalmist has a chapter dealing with this on several levels.
I wonder how long Adam and Eve lived in the garden before their expulsion… or, how long did it take Noah to build the ark? Did they take an accounting of every day, unfinished tasks, and tomorrow’s schedule? When you are lonely, do you value the time with others better? When life is busy, do you enjoy the downtime more?
Moses is the author, and he poses this thought as a request to God.
A Prayer Of Moses the Man of God.
LORD, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.
(Psalms 90:1 NKJV)
So teach us to number our days,
That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
(Psalms 90:12 NKJV)
Long before David included these words in his private songbook, and probably hundreds of years earlier, Moses spoke these words to God and acknowledges that for all the generations we know, He has been our dwelling place. The root of our lives. The focus of our beginnings and endings. The span of time from one generation to another. All find a foundation in God.
The key to this thinking process today?
Wisdom does not show up on day one. It’s a ladder-climbing experience that moves us from none to some! We need to be on a migratory pathway before we can ever be thought of as wise people.
That’s where the value of days well spent will lead us!
Whether you recognize it or not, the Creator has given us the ability to live our days. Some have longer life spans than others, broader experiences, harrowing tails of fear and failures… and others show us how to live fruitful lives even when the crush of defeat takes our very breath away.
Here’s My Thought Today
How do you tally your days? What are you spending them on? Can you account for the time you have been given and will you stand willing to give an accurate account on that future Judgement Day?
We have all been guilty of wasting our days, along with spending them down pathways that are not productive. Equally, we have all been given an opportunity to fly above the morass with an expansiveness that blows our minds! We can accomplish so much! If we work hard at not wasting or whining over who, what, where, when, how, and why, oh why!
I’ve been listening to some positive words this week. Words were spoken via a webinar, books, audio, and real-life examples. Lives shining forth from major storms, not letting the moment wreck their ability to respond, speak volumes of our capability. In “quiet desperation” we are shown that we can overcome if we will strive to persevere.
Recognizing that my days are numbered,
I challenge myself to not get bogged down
Into a mind set that makes me less
Than the productive person I know I can be.
Historical Fiction
I completed a historical fiction recently. It’s called a historical fiction because the author, James Alexander Thom, researched all known historical reference to a person, spoke with her modern-day offspring, and told a most probable story based on fact, recollection, journals and other stories from the same time period. Mary Draper Ingles. Mid 1700’s. She was captured and taken hundreds of miles from her home and family by a Shawnee raiding party. She subsequently escaped, and though there were no signposts, and her kids were spread throughout the tribes, she traversed the wilderness and returned home.
Where the experience would literally wipe out most of us, she not only escaped with her life barely intact, but she also lived into her 90’s and raised another family, surviving and showing the path forward to her widespread family.
An amazing story. Not giving up.
Pushing through 600 miles of wilderness to return home, barely alive.
Her willingness to not give up is the key part of the story. She had a purpose and reason to live. From the wellspring of her internal fortitude and the help of her God, she returned home.
But that return did not give her reason to simply quit, she continued living a life long after her trial.
Maybe this is what we need to hear. A trial we have won does not give us space to simply say, “Ok. Let me take my ease and ride off into the sunset!” Rather, there’s a group of good souls that need to see you picking up the pieces and living on. Moving forward.
Make all the days count,
even those not yet experienced,
because every day counts.