Numbering Our Days in 2006
Somehow it seems inane to set one’s self up for failure by jumping through the New Year’s Resolutions hoop: lose 10 pounds, clean closets, learn to speak Spanish, never lose temper, etc. In addition, the focus in on the self, the wrong place to be. So, how should a Christian view a new year?
This year for me seems different, and should be. Two friends in my church have recently learned of the aggressive cancer consuming their cells that will insure (humanly speaking) that they will not live to see the end of 2006. Another friend didn’t make it through the last year- he had no idea on the first of January 2005 that he wouldn’t live to see 2006. Events like this do keep us from taking the gift of life for granted.
I think of Frodo’s words to Gandalf in Lord of the Rings, “I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.” Frodo was unhappy with his circumstances. We can fill in the blanks with circumstances of our own: “I wish I hadn’t messed up my marriage; I wish I didn’t have such a rotten boss who makes my job so unpleasant; I wish my body would be strong; I wish I had children who loved Christ; I wish I didn’t have to struggle to make ends meet financially; I wish people liked me; I wish I had done more with my life.”
Gandalf’s response to Frodo is worth pondering. “So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to do is to decide what to do with the time that is given us.”
The psalmist (in this case Moses, in Psalm 90:12) also prayed this thought “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”
Just how do I do this in 2006? How do my friends who will be meeting the Lord this year deal with the time that is left them? One doesn’t have to read far into the Word to see that God makes it abundantly clear what is pleasing to Him. For starters, these ‘tips’ from the fourth chapter of Philippians give us the idea:
• Rejoice in the Lord always (verse 4)
• Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (verse 6)
• Let your mind dwell on whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely… the excellent things (verse 8)
• Learn to be content in whatever circumstances you find yourself (verse 11)
• Recognize you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (verse 13)
When we meet Him face to face, whether it is this year or in the future, it seems if He finds us, in the midst of our circumstances, devoted to prayer and the study of His Word, living it out as well as taking it in, we will indeed have numbered our days wisely.
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