13,685

As of today, that’s how many days have passed since the day I was born. I used this nifty calculator to figure it out.

We could do that with all sorts of dates.

• How long have I been a believer?
• How old is my son/daughter?
• How long do we have left with them until they turn 18?
• How many days have we been married?
• If God doesn’t give us more children, how long until we don’t have any in the home anymore?
• How long until I turn 50? 70?

What do you think would happen if you took 15 minutes and answered these questions with exact numbers?

 

One thing that would happen is that we would grow more sober about the passing of days.

“So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” ~Psalm 90:12

God’s Word tells us– doing this can make our heart more wise.

One thing we *can’t* do, however, is count how many days we have left. If I’m halfway through life today, I have 13,685 left. Or, if I live to be 100, it means I have 22,840 left.

Which… in comparison with that 13,685 number up there… doesn’t sound so long, does it? WOW. That’s sobering.

Or, it could be ONE. Really. Car crashes, heart attacks, freak accidents, tumors on the frontal lobe. Life is a vapor– it fades away quickly.

We’re probably not gonna be famous, you and me. We’re probably not going to know Presidents and celebrities. But there are people right there in your life to whom you matter a great deal. And if you’ve embraced the truth of the Gospel, you know the greatest truth– Christ died, and by raising to life, He made a way for you to have eternal joy with God.

Are you living for what matters? Are you living in light of a sober assessment of your days?

Take 15 minutes, and count your days.

Let me know if you do this little exercise. I’d love to hear what you learn and how your heart grows wiser by “counting your days.”

 

 

PS- this is the exact encouragement I just sent out to my e-mail subscribers– hundreds of women who have opted in to receive monthly encouragement. This is the first time I’ve shared a newsletter message on the blog. So… if you like this, each month, you’re missing out. Join up here.