Daily Encouragement: Day 221

From Handbook to Wisdom, Day 221

TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS

I will guard my heart with all diligence,
for out of it flow the issues of life.
(Proverbs 4:23)

We have the prophetic word made more certain,
to which we will do well to pay attention,
as to a light shining in a dark place,
until the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts.
(2 Peter 1:19)

“Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times. And a very small number, really. How many times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”

Actor Brandon Lee made these poignant observations in his last interview before his death in 1993 after completing the film, The Crow. Who would have known that he would be ushered into eternity so soon after his comments on the brevity of life? Lee was right to say that we cannot presume on the future, even though most people do just that by assuming that their lives are limitless.

As Moses prayed near the end of his life, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).