OF BEAUTY AND BREVITY…

Not often do I have this much time to sit and think, and to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. It is Sunday morning and instead of being in church I am sitting at home enjoying the most amazing beauty. New fallen snow blankets our property with a breathtaking display that is almost heavenly. The dainty yet exquisite icicles that drape the house, garage and portico that connects the two. The white blanket of beauty that wraps everything in its embrace leaving only the outlines of what it has enveloped. And to top it all off, the company of my children to reminisce of snowstorms past. “Remember the time”, I’ll never forget”, and so ons fill the evening’s conversation. The only problem with all the reminiscing is that the icicles will fall, the snow will melt and the memories will fade. What I suppose is most important is what you are doing with the beauty of now.
The beauty of a snowy setting reminds me of the past. Memories of my childhood, Terri’s winter memories with her family, and of course those precious moments with Joe & Steph when they were little. I know of one particular sledding video that could win me a cool $1000.00 on AFV! These snowy days are what real memories are made of. Snow has the ability to call my attention to the amazing forgiveness of God. How as Isaiah puts it, can wash away the sinful past of a man and make it as pure as the driven snow…come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Icicles remind me of the brevity of life those things appear out of nowhere, you admire them for a while and poof they’re gone. Life’s like that isn’t it? I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said,
“Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for it is the stuff life is made of.”
Many moments in scripture remind us of the passing of time. King David said, “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.” David’s son Solomon would write, “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:” Jesus himself points out the need for all of us to take advantage of the moments we have “Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” So, what are you doing with the beauty of now? The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.
Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom is wise counsel from the book of Psalms. Carl Sandburg wrote, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” I am sure that many of you have read this before but let it’s truth remind you again of the necessity of taking advantage of the moments before you. “ If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with $86,000 that carried over no balance from day to day...Allowed you to keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled whatever part of the amount you failed to use during the day, what would you do? Draw out every cent every day, of course, and use it to your advantage! Well, you have such a bank, and its name is TIME! Every morning it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it rules off as lost whatever of this you failed to invest to good purpose. It carries over no balances, it allows no overdrafts. Each day it opens a new account with you. If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against tomorrow. The snow will melt the icicles will fall, and eventually the grass will begin to turn green again. What will you have done with the time in between?