Too Busy? Remember Your End!

Our days are numbered on this earth. But I'm not sure we believe it. We dash through our days attempting to keep afloat in a sea of hurried madness. We rush to work. We speed away to pick up our kids from school and then dart off to get them to soccer, baseball, band, and church. We eat fast food and microwave dinners. We have instant access via computer to more information than any generation and yet we get upset when files do not download fast enough. Even when we are not hurried, we live as though we are. Consider the way we drive. How many times do you find yourself getting aggravated at the slowness of traffic even when you are out for a leisurely drive?

Is this hurried pace the way we are to spend our days? We appear to be doing a bunch of "stuff" and yet in reality we are not doing much of anything. There seems to be an abundance of hollow activity as we hop from activity to activity. Could it be we have forgotten that our days our numbered? Does a dying man wish for days of frantic busyness or days of building on things that are lasting? In the last moments of a person's life, one does not spend time on the trivial.

David, the psalmist writes: O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath (Ps. 39:4-5).

May we understand the brevity of life in order to understand what needs to be priority. Time with God. Time with family. Time with friends. Time spent with a lonely neighbor. Life is too short not to spend time reading the Bible to your family. It is too short not to spend time praying for others. It is too short not to share your wealth with others. It is too short not to eat a slow meal with a good friend. It is too short to be caught up in the "rat race." 

Lord, remind us of the shortness of our days...

Jeff