Numbering our days

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." - Psalm 90:12

6,694.

That's the number of days Clint and I have been married. Thanks to a handy application on Clint's iPod, I can figure out the number of days I've been married, the number of days I've been alive, or the number of days my children have been graced with life when there have been times I've wanted to bring them to a quick end!

But thinking about all those numbers, the verse from the Psalms popped into my mind. "Teach us to number our days....". I'm sure the Psalmist was not talking in a literal sense, but rather figuratively. Why? I think there are several reasons:

1. Because we need to realize the brevity of life. The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 39, "Show me, O Lord, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath." Open your palm and breath out onto it. That is the length of our life in God's eyes. Wild to consider, isn't it? Yet we think we have all the time in the world to do the things we dream, want, and desire.
2. Because we need to learn to make the most of our brevity. When we realize the short span of our lives and purpose to make the most of it, then we gain the heart of wisdom the Psalmist is referring. Who wants to waste their life on foolish things? If we spend our lives piling up material possessions, trying to accomplish things that are not meant for us, or living selfishly, we have lived life in vain, foolishly. Paul exhorts us in Ephesians that that is not how we should spend our time. He says, "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise (foolish) but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (5:15-16).
3. Because we need to be people of purpose. Someone who is diagnosed with a terminal illness does not leave the doctor's office and return to work. They go home and begin living out the last of their days loving on their family, spending time with them, and enjoying and doing those things they never took the time to do before with what time they have left. Why do we wait for the end to start living? We need to spend each day we are given purposefully living out our priorities in life. How do we do this? Colossians 3:2 offers some help, "Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."

This is not meant to be a morbid post, but one that just makes us stop and think for a minute. Is there something you have always wanted to do, but have put it off thinking there will be time for it later? Maybe the time is now. None of us is promised a tomorrow, but we can promise ourselves to make the most of today.

Will you?