Time keeps tick, tick, ticking away!

Here we are turning the page on another chapter (year) in our lives.

 

I'm purposely trying to focus on the here and now and not think about the events as they unfolded this time last year.  And yet, it must be heavy on my mind as my thoughts, dreams and even articles I read drift back to the memories of my mom being diagnosed with stage four brain cancer and the weeks as they played out in that short, brief, all to quick month.

 

Sunday would have been my mom's 82nd birthday.  That age is just 36 years away for me, should God grant me that amount of time.  Frank, in his loving, gentle, "hey, I have an awesome idea" way, suggested we go visit my mom's grave on Sunday.  My dad likes that idea.  I believe I do too.  We haven't been "out there" since we buried mom.  I kept putting it off "so the grass could fill in and the place where she is buried won't look so sparse."  No matter how beautiful the park or place where a loved one is buried, it will always look sparse...because they aren't there!

 

Today's PW Devotional talks about seasons.  You and I, if we are children of God, are in the season of living for eternity.  God gives us plenty of plain talk on how He wants us to live while on this Earth.  Many times throughout this past year, I've daydreamed about my mom's first moments in heaven with her Lord, King and Savior.  Some of you knew my mom and may remember her urgent pleas to know Jesus more and to understand His Word.  I also know how burdoned she was for so many in our church, our family and friends in other parts of the world.  She longed for all she knew and loved to "not make the same mistakes she did" and follow the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and spirit.

 

Jesus says it best in Matthew & Luke...

 

Matthew 6:19-21

(19) "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  (20) "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; (21) for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:22-31

(22) And He said to His disciples, "For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on.  (23) "For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. (24) "Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! (25) "And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life's span? (26) "If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? (27) "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. (28) "But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! (29) "And do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not keep worrying. (30) "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. (31) "But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

Our season now is to "store up treasures in heaven."  What moments we have left on this fallen planet should be spent counting for eternity.  What counts for eternity?  People and living our lives to honor & glorify the Lord.

 

May the next chapter in your life begin and end with Jesus!

 

P.S. To quote my sister, "Good morning Lord! Please tell my mom I said 'hello!'"
 

PlanetWisdom.com Devotionals

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Telling Time: What's Your Season? Posted: 28 Dec 2009 10:35 AM PST "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2) People love to say at Christmastime that "Jesus is the reason for the season." It's a good line, and it rhymes. But this New Year's week, we're going to look at a famous poem from Ecclesiastes 3 and see that God is the reason for every season (not just Christmas). David said this to God in Psalm 31:15: "My times are in your hands." That's true for all of us. God controls our seasons. You and I cannot turn winter to summer any more than we could have scheduled our own birth -- or the day of our death. Every season belongs to God. What we can control is how we live in whatever season God brings along. Will we be wise or foolish this season? Will we plant in planting season -- by investing our time and work and energy in whatever opportunity God gives us for the future? Or will we waste our planting season and have nothing to "uproot" or harvest when the payoff season comes along? We'll see this week that learning to tell what season you are in right now will help you to have the wisdom to know how best to live. Come back tomorrow. Think: Does it bother you that God controls what season or time you are in? Do you trust Him to bring you in and out of the seasons of your life? Why or why not? Pray: Thank God that your times are in His hands and that He has made a time for everything in your life. Do: Read the whole poem we'll be studying this week in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.