ROOTED - Monday, June 3, 2024

James 4:14
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.

 

Reflection: Birthday Part 1
The rooted Devotionals are a privilege for me to write. I have found that, in many ways, it is therapeutic to write my thoughts down, sometimes coming out of concerns or struggles in my own life. In this way, you (the reader) are my therapist and counselor. Today as I type, it is my birthday… my 49th birthday (as I write it is May 23rd)! I am staring 50 in the face, and I confess to you that I am struggling far worse than I thought I would. Turning 50 is a daunting thought. I recognize that there are many readers older than I, thinking, “you are young… get over it!”  I concede it! I should put it in perspective. But, what I tend to think through when birthdays approach (my kids’, Kelly’s, or my own) is that life is short and I have wasted much of it. I feel regret more than anything else… regret and the associated sadness that comes with regret. I feel that today, rather deeply.
“Life is but a vapor”… that is what God’s Word teaches. It is here and then gone. I am glad that today life is not gone… birthdays are preferable to funerals!! That is for certain. But I am struck today with a gnawing desire to do better. Try harder. Watch less TV. Binge less Netflix. Spend more time with the family. Love more deeply. Read His Word more. Pray longer. Fast more often. Be less bitter or angry. Lose my temper less. Be more generous. Life is short. I must maximize my time for the sake of my family, myself, and God’s Kingdom. Is anybody like me? Is anybody with me? 


Prayer
Lord, we squander our time so foolishly often. May we better steward the years we have left ahead of us for the Kingdom of God and for the sake of those around us.