A passing shadow

Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow. - Psalm 144v4

We spend so much time and focus so much on this present life. All we do is focused here and now. It is obvious why we do this – it is what we see and where we live now. It is what seems important. We have jobs to do, bills to pay, news to keep up with, grandkids to visit, trips to take, and so on and so on. In other words, we have life to live.

And yet, the scary this is, this life is as fleeting as the Bible says it is. I am 56 years old. That fact amazes me. I remember things about being a child and a teen that can seem like yesterday. Matt, our oldest, will be 33 this year. As I sit here and play with 9 month old Kian it seems like I was doing the same things with Matt when he was that age. When Matt was this age it was 1979. Jimmy Carter was president. No one had home PC’s. Not only did we not have ‘smartphones’ no one even had dumb mobile phones yet. No one had heard of the internet.

But is seems like yesterday. It seems like that breath that vanishes on a cold winter morning. It is like that shadow that dashes across the grounds as the clouds zip by on a sunny day.

Beyond this we have eternity where time is meaningless. The years will pass by without notice.

Why is it then that we spend so much time preparing for this life and so little preparing for the one that counts?

In the light of this I like Paul’s advice. Don’t look at all the stuff you see around you. It is all going to pass away. Instead look at the life you can’t see – that is what counts.