MEDITATIONS
Number Your Days*
"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" - Psalms 90:12
I have this habit of numbering my days: When I wake up in the morning, I make a point of thinking "Lord, this day is worth a thousand years of eternity and that means that the people I meet, the letters I write, the conversation I have...these all have value in Your sight. Teach me to measure each moment."
I haven't cultivated this habit overnight. Because of all the things to be counted, this is the hardest - to number our days. We number everything else so easily. We know how much money we have in our purse and how many dollars in the bank.Farmers number their sheep and cattle.. Restaurants number meals served in a week. Teachers check off attendance records. Gardeners can tell you how many tomato plants are in the backyard.
Yet we find it hard to number something so precious as our days. Perhaps that's becuase we see our days stretching on and on. They seem infinite and so there's no need, we think, to number them. Thing we fail to account for, we waste. That's why it's so wise to ask God to teach us to consider each day separate from the next; distinct in its purpose, unique in the way it is to be lived.
James 4:14 says, "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" And if we need another reminder, Isaiah 40:6-7 says, "All men are like grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass." When we finally arrive in heaven, we will be surprised by many things, but nothing will amaze us more than how short life on earth really was.
You have written this day in Your book, Lord, so teach me to spend it wisely for Your glory."
* Diamonds in the DUST - Joni Eareckson Tada