A Quiet Countdown
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. Matthew 6
A Quiet Countdown
At the end of February I turned 58 years old. At the end of June, I will have been a pastor at the Pendleton Church for 25 years. There comes a point in life when we realize we have more yesterdays than we will have tomorrows. I am at that point in life as your Pastor and as a person. When I lived on the side of life where I expected to have more tomorrows than yesterdays, I looked at the future as an adventure with years to come. Now I can see the end of the journey.
We can never really know how many tomorrows we will have, but at some point, we know there are less than the yesterdays we have lived. At that point in life, a quiet countdown begins. Every day becomes a little more precious. As Christians, it isn’t because we fear the shadow of death, but because we feel the opportunities of living disappearing. So much life still to live and accomplish, will we have time? It can become easy to look at regrets, losses, missed opportunities, aches and pains and good-byes to friends. But those are the Devil’s tools to tarnish our Golden Years.
In May and June we celebrate beginnings, graduations and new jobs. The birth of children. The birth of nature around us. Introductions to Jesus at Confirmation and Baptisms. Weddings, new homes, more sun and grand vacations. So many young people facing a life full of adventure, hope and excitement. A life filled with tomorrows still to live!
It can seem such a contrasting life. Young, compared to old. But it really is a grand opportunity. One generation celebrates the beginnings of another, while the other looks for love, guidance, hope and examples from the ones who have traveled farther. It isn’t a contrast, it is a blessed partnership.
Where is your treasure? What do you see?
Life is lived in the tomorrows. We may have many ahead or only a few. But we need to look forward to each day. We need to live in, through and with the people we love becoming more important every day. It is too easy for people in the latter part of life to get caught up seeing only regrets, pain, failure, missed opportunities and fears. But I have met young people, as well, who let that demon blind them to the possibility – thinking God offers us. The treasure in life is to look toward tomorrow. Live in hope, live in love and live with God to lead you forward.
Looking forward to a lot more tomorrows of adventure together.
Pastor Tom