Counting hours vs. counting days
Psalms 39: 4-7 “show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life…”
Many of us have become really good at counting hours. In our quest for better time management we’ve read the books; attended the seminars; bought the products. Every season there seems to be a hot new trend in getting more done during the day, or getting less done, but with greater quality. A fulfilling day or week seems to be one where we’ve checked off our whole list without too much distraction.
But how are we deciding on the list? King David wisely asked the Lord for understanding concerning the whole scope of his life. Yes, there are many things that “need” to get done today, but when I truly realize how short my natural life is (and how much shorter it could be), my priorities adjust.
My parents recently got back from a road trip where they visited relatives in the midwest. A few years ago my aunt and uncle purchased cemetery plots to prepare for their eventual death. That’s pretty normal. But one day they discovered that the cemetery had made a huge mistake and had buried other people in their plots. Of course, the error was corrected and another allotment was reserved for them, but my uncle and aunt were going to make sure that blunder never happened again: They bought huge headstones, complete with their names and dates of birth, and set them in place. That’s not so normal.
Now every once in a while they can literally go and visit their own graves…and they do—evidenced by a picture my parents brought back with each of them standing next to their tombstone and pointing to their names.
Some people might think that is strange; but I think it’s awesome! I want to live life constantly reminded that my hours and tasks may not be as important as I think—or at least I want to understand that those hours and tasks must someday culminate in a life that won’t be judged by what I accomplished in a day but by the stewardship of my whole life.
And when I say stewardship, I’m not really talking about accomplishments or accolades. A life really well lived is one that is in lived in unbroken contact with the One who gives us life in the first place. The life He wants us to live is not simply filled with tasks and calendars and checkboxes, but it is filled with joy and awe and wonder.
This week I heard a friend talk about wonder. He said, “life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away”
As Moses is recorded Psalms 90:12 “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”