The Gift

The day is not rightly lived, nor is it complete until we have thanked God for the gift He has given.  And, it might also be said that we have no claim to any new day in which we breathe the air of the earth until we have expressed gratitude to God for all that is unfolding before us.  Each day is such a precious gift. Like many, I have lived too many days like a foolish man who thinks I am the maker of my days and the one who determines what things will happen within it.    

Some might say it is the young man's illusion.  Perhaps, such is true, but I fear it is not just an illusion of the young, but one which even the old can carry with them in the baggage of life.  Time, experience, and loss does have a way of creating a different view of the days that are afforded us, but sometimes not even this perspective, so framed with reality enables us to see what is so obvious.  What is obvious is that life is fleeting.  It is here for a moment and then gone before there is time for the second breath.  It is so very fragile. What seems so solid and firm can be broken and shattered in the time it takes for the heart to beat.    

The wisdom of the Psalmist is surely seen as he wrote, "Lord, let me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.  You have made my days a few handsbreath, and my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight." (Psalm 39:4-5)  It is, therefore, a good thing to know "...there is a season and a time for every matter under the heaven..."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and then to live "...making the most of the time..."  (Ephesians 5:15)  To live mindful that life is fleeting and fragile is not a call to live with fear and timidity, but an invitation to receive each moment as a precious gift of God's grace which always means living unafraid to go forth into the wherever His leading takes us.