Friends, today we continue yesterday’s meditation on how we would spend our days if we knew we had only forty left.
Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. James 4:14, ESV
Everlasting God,
Forgive us for “boasting in our arrogance” (James: 4:13)
for the ways we fail to thank you
for all of the good gifts you have given us,
including each day of our lives
and all provision for that day.
May we heed 87-year-old theologian J. I. Packer’s instructions:**
“First, wake each day with the question,
‘How do you want me to glorify and enjoy you today?’
Second, “Live practicing the presence of God in Christ”
— yes, Lord, help us to listen to less of this world’s noise
that we may rest
in the gentle and lowly presence of our Savior.
Third, finish the course well:
“Our last sprint should be a sprint indeed.”
May we not waste our four or forty or four hundred or four thousand days
on trivialities
but may we spend each of them
sharing the good news
of our hope of glory
in Jesus Christ
by setting our affairs in order,
by encouraging friends, family, strangers, and enemies,
by forgiving our enemies inexcusable betrayals,
and by speaking and writing
the many stories of redemption
you have written in our lives.
In Jesus’ living and dying and resurrected name. Amen.
**I highly recommend Packer’s little book, Finishing Our Course with Joy: Guidance from God for Engaging with Our Aging
**This prayer is part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the free online community, the NYD Network, which offers gospel-centered encouragement and equipping for issues of aging, caregiving, legacy, and end-of-life. Why not join today or invite someone you love to join? (It’s FREE!) Link: https://numberingyourdaysnetwork.mn.co/share/B5q0dGGIOR0f996K?utm_source=manual
