The Wading Pool

As of October 22, 2011, it’s thirteen thousand, four hundred thirty-five.

13,435.

That’s how many days I’ve been given so far.

Uhhh…Newt…why?

Glad you asked.  I was reading this morning, and Moses’ words in Psalm 90 hit me:

“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”  (Ps. 90:12)

It got me thinking that I’ve never really thought about it for more than just a passing moment.  So I figured out the total number of days I’ve been here.  13, 435.  Now, I don’t think that’s the point, mind you.  The point is not figuring out the  number of your days, but it’s realizing just how valuable each of those days are.

It’s realizing that we each have an allotted amount of time.  Some more, some less, but everybody gets an amount.  The key is realizing that it’s precious, and then figuring out what you’re going to do with it.

13,345 days.  But for me, days are a little harder to visualize.  A lot goes on in a day.  When I take it down to hours, it really hits home a little more.  322,440 hours thus far.  When I think over what I’ve done with those hours, well…lets just say they haven’t all been useful.  I read yesterday that when the current generation of teens hits 70 years, they’ll have spent 7-10 of those years watching TV.  I doubt my generation is far removed from that.

Yet again, I can think of the time that WAS well-spent.  All those Sunday mornings and evenings in church when I was a kid when, even though I didn’t realize it at the time, the Word of God was being planted in the soil of my heart.  The hours spent getting to know my wife on the phone during our semi long-distance courtship.  The countless afternoons spent playing along to CDs in my room, learning how to understand music (though I thought i was just practicing my stick-twirling skills).

Those early morning rocking chair sessions with my two girls.  The time spent saying prayers and reading books to them at night.  The trips to the fair!   The afternoon naps (when they actually took them) with my kids laying on my chest.

The time I’ve spent in the Word of God.  The time set aside for prayer, and then those in-the-moment prayer sessions when life comes at you unannounced.

Thinking of all these things, and thinking of how our lives will change yet again when my boy arrives sometime in the next 2 months, it makes me want to be that much more intentional about how I spend that time.  It makes me want to make it count.

And I think that’s the point.