Life is Flying By!

       Since our grandchildren live far away in Michigan, we only get to see them face to face two or three times a year. However, thanks to the nearly miraculous development of being able to talk to people live via the internet, it has been easier to keep up with the four of them. Al and I can’t help noticing changes in them while talking over the computer, like voices changing, growing taller, and longer (or shorter) hair. The little ones are always eager to show off new t-shirts or scars and bruises from recent falls. When we commented on the way our fourteen-year old grandson was growing up during one session over the computer recently, he just smiled politely.

     “Gee, Kevin, you sure are polite and never make any comments about us, while we go on and on about how much you’ve changed. You never say, ‘My, you’re looking older and getting more wrinkled’ or ‘your hair is sure turning gray,’ ” I commented, grinning.

     Kevin laughed and said, “I guess it’s a parent thing!”  True…or maybe a grandparent thing!

     The sure sign that our years are passing quickly is in seeing the amazing growth of children from infants into adulthood. It seems like only a short while ago that Kevin was asking me to go outside and help him dig a deep hole in the backyard! Trying to get to China? Finding buried treasures? What an imagination he had!  

      The changes which take place during the aging process are also probably very apparent to those around us; however, it is easy to forget when we aren’t standing in front of a mirror or feeling the aches and pains of the “golden” years. My mom used to ask, “Why are these called the golden years? They should be called the ‘rusty’ years!”

     With each passing birthday, life seems to speed up just a little. Days, weeks, months and years aren’t as long as they used to be, are they? I have already zipped passed the half-century mark and am racing towards the age listed for average life expectancy of an adult female in America. It’s a sobering thought; but also one that makes me extremely grateful for having lived so long and for being healthy and blessed in a myriad of ways.

     There are two things which I would like to focus on for the remainder of my days here on earth, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in me: 1) loving God with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength and 2) loving ‘my neighbor’ (others) as much as I love myself. That should keep me very busy, as well as preparing me to meet God when my last breath is taken. The words of a beautiful old hymn, “Living for Jesus,” express this desire well.

     “O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee; for Thou in Thy atonement, didst give thyself for me. I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne. My life I give, hence-forth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.” (“Living for Jesus,” by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1917)

     Life is short! Really short! Why not spend it living for Jesus? He loves you!

    

 “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.” Psalm39:4-5 NIV