Taking each day the Lord allows you to have
The older I get the earlier I go to bed. The older I get the earlier I rise to face a new day.
I can always remember my grandparents doing this also. There were many days, when I was younger, I would wake up and see my grandparents out in the garden either working the soil or harvesting the fruits and vegetables they had planted weeks before. I never really understood why they got up so early until I started working for a living and now that I am retired, I get up earlier than I ever have.
When I awake each morning and try to lay in bed and get a few more minutes of sleep, my mind begins to reminisce and I think about the days gone by, if I could relive them, what would I change about those days or wish I had done different. I think about my relatives and friends that have gone on to see the Lord and won-der, did they accomplish what God put them on earth to do?
How many of us even think about what we are supposed to be doing each day for the Lord? Most of us are wrapped up in what the world wants us to do. Most of us, during our working days for someone else, would think about what we had to do concerning our jobs. We were worried about our future, our income, our home, our family, but how many of us were really thinking about spreading the good news of Jesus?
None of us on earth know the hour or the day that we will leave this earth. We are always planning for the future, which is not bad, but do we think about what we are doing in the present. It does not matter what we have done in the past because there is no way that we can change it.
We are told in James 4:13-14, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”
I do look back sometimes and wish I had used more appropriate words when arguing with someone. I do wish I had stood up for what I felt was right according to the situation and not given in to the majority, because I felt pressured to do so. Yes, there are many things I wish I could go back and change about my actions but there is no way. You cannot turn back the clock.
However, the life and the family God allowed me to have has always been the love I longed for on earth and prayed that God would protect them and lead them. The Lord Jesus has always been my guide. The times I have not done what I should have, are the times that I took my eyes off Jesus and tried to handle things on my own.
The Prophet Micah tells us in his book to always be prepared. In Chapter 6, verse 8, he tells us how to live each day; “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
What about you? Do not worry about your past because it cannot be changed. Live for today. Be fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love. Do not take yourself too seriously. Take God seriously.
My grandparents knew the love of Jesus and each day they had on earth knew the value of that day. We should do the same!
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for your forgiveness of my many sins. I pray that I will be a compassionate and just person working for you in all that I do. Amen.
