The Reality Is

 This weekend, we will be watching most of the Wichita grand kids while Mom, Dad, and one or two older kids take care of some weekend business.  It’s a big change for us to suddenly have four or five additional people, let alone kids, among us for a couple of days.  I have to admit that it takes some getting used to for me, and that it’s kind of nice when they go back to their parents.  I’m used to the peace and quiet of semi-retirement and of not having anyone around except the wife.  That won’t happen, however, this weekend, so I’m mentally gearing up for it already this week.

I have to tell you, though, those grand kids grow up so quickly.  What seemed like only a year or two ago, they were 2, 4, 6 years old and now there are two teens, a near teen, and all are in school.  The older teen will be 18 in just a year and a half.  So much has passed by our lives and so quickly.  I’m reminded of that Bible verse about our lives being but a vapor.  How does that verse go?

The book of James is where that is found.  The writer says this, : Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.   What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  In the Psalms, one poet said this:  “You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You.  Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath.”

For many years now, I have been cognizant of the fact that I have many more years behind me than I have ahead of me.  That realization began in my mid 40’s and has only intensified over the years.  The year 2031 when I will turn 80 years old, should I live that long, is only a few skips into the future.  There is much to see and do in the intervening time, and I find that time period growing smaller and smaller.  The days sometimes seem to drag on forever, but the months and years are flying by.

I’m guessing it’s the same for you whether you’re 30 or 70 years old or somewhere in between.  We never seem to have enough hours in the day or days in the year or years in a lifetime to see and do all we’d like.  So we have to sometimes pick and choose, and just say something to the effect of, “I’ll probably never get that done,” or, “We probably won’t be back this way again, so we need to enjoy this place and time.”

My wife and I actually have been doing this some over the past few years.  We’ve taken trips to places where we pretty much knew we would never go back.  We’re planning to go places, the Lord willing, this year and in the future where we probably will not ever be going back due to our ages, health, and even financial situation.

And there are things I know I’ve done in the past that I’ve said, “I’m not doing that anymore,” and have just quietly dropped that thing from my list of things I can and will do.  I won’t crawl into attics or under houses anymore as I used to do from time to time to make repairs to plumbing or electrical.  I won’t get on the roof of my home anymore without someone there to watch out for me.  I no longer will help someone install drywall, otherwise known as sheetrock.  I won’t change my own oil anymore.  Nor will I use a push mower to cut the grass.  The list is longer than that, but you get the idea.

Depending on one’s point of view, we often live long and fruitful lives.  We accomplish a lot, have descendants, and make a real difference in the lives of many.  Or, from another point of view, our lives are as a puff of vapor in the great scheme of things.  We are here, then we’re gone and after a time remembered no more by anyone.  The wise man of Ecclesiastes said this:  “The wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten.  Like the fool, the wise too must die!”

Now, with all that I’ve said, I don’t mean to be morbid and sound defeated in life.  There is surely much good to be found in life and living.  There is much good in the creation.  There is much to do and see in the time we have, and God has blessed us abundantly.  However, we also need to keep our thinking straight and understand that even though things may seem to be very important in the here and now, and we ourselves may seem to be very important people in the here and now, over the long haul…over the eons…our lives are just a speck on the timeline.

The real importance is eternity.  The reality is our destiny.  The goal is living life as our Creator would have us live it.  The result is our adoption as brothers and sisters of the risen Christ.  That, friend, is the reality.

 

Blessings,