“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart.” Psalm 90:12
Imagine having a bank account where money is automatically deposited each morning. Now, imagine the sum deposited each day is a whopping $86,400! Let that sink in. Each day, you are given $86,400 to do with as you choose.
But there’s a catch to this imaginary premise: none of the money can ever be carried over to the next day. You have to use it or lose it. Every day when you wake you would have to be aware this incredible amount of money would be wasted if you didn’t use it.
What would you do?
Most likely, you’re probably thinking you would certainly spend it all or give it away. Anything is better than simply wasting all that money, right?
Now, imagine instead of those dollars being deposited into your account, time was deposited into your life. Life is a bit like that scenario. Every new day, God gives us 86,400 seconds that we get to decide how to spend. And if we don’t spend each and every second well, we can never get time back.
We can’t borrow time. We can’t get a loan from someone else’s supply of time.
Perhaps time is like money in another way: we appreciate it the most when we realize we might be running low on it. But aren’t we, every day, getting closer and closer to running low on time?
The letter of St. James, chapter 4, verse 14, reminds us of this. “You have no idea what kind of life will be yours tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears briefly and vanishes.”
No one really wants to wake up each day filled with worry that the deposits of time in their life might end that day. But isn’t that the very knowledge we should have in order to best live our lives – as if each precious second might be our last?
How would you live this second of your life if it were the last moment you’d have on earth?
Watering the Seeds
Is there something in your life that makes you feel like you are wasting precious time on it?
How can your faith help you use each precious second of your life to its fullest?
