Ponderings

"Whatever time I have left"...a heavy thought indeed.  Not because I am dying -- though we are all dying -- but because there is still so much to be done, so much life to be lived and love to be shared.  Time is passing much too quickly -- the month of January is nearly half gone and before you know it, we'll be sitting at the end of 2020 and wondering how it passed so quickly when we were determined to make the most of each day and do everything in our power to slow its progression. Time is short.  I'm getting older.  So are you.  Opportunities to do good are ours every day, but do we make the most of them?  When I get to the end of my life, this year, this day -- will I regret the things I didn't do, the love I didn't express, and the time I didn't take just to stop and smell the roses?  Or will I lay my head on the pillow satisfied that I did the best I could and lived with a sense of purpose and balance? There are too many distractions competing fo

Today is January 4, 2020, and already I am discouraged.  During a lengthy period of insomnia last night I briefly scrolled through my Facebook feed to see what the Lord might have me pray for, since I was up already.  There was no lack of discouraging, disheartening news.  Honestly, it is hard to read a social media feed or turn on the news and NOT feel disheartened by all of it.  2019 was a hard year for so many, and from what I can see with my earthly eyes, 2020 is not shaping up to be an improvement.  But God... "He knows the way that  I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold" (Job 23:10, ESV). "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek and find me, when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:11-13, ESV). "By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night