Life is too short . . .

There is an expression that reads, Life is too short to live the same day twice. How easy it is, especially when you're young, to fritter away that most precious of commodities --- TIME. I suppose that it's the thought that there's always another day in which to get something done that lets you do this, but one day time will run out. Just imagine that today is all you have. What would you do with it?
As Christians, although we enjoy ourselves in this life, we look forward to the time when we will live in the Kingdom of God; the time when we will see Jesus face to face; the time when we will be able to praise Him for ever. Yet how much better it would be to live each day now as though we were already there.

TIME, that commodity which allows us to measure our progress in life. We refer to it in so many different ways. Sometimes wistfully, sometimes sadly, sometimes with regret, and often recall places that we once knew and people whome we once loved --- or perhaps were loved by. I wonder whether, in the light of our personal history, we would do things any differently if we were granted that time once again. Personally, unless we were granted the value of hindsight and the wisdom that age brings so often as a companion, I doubt that we would change much if anything. Why? Because we were who we were at that moment. We made our decisions for different reasons than those which hindsight would allow us. We hurt and were hurt. We valued and devalued. We stood still sometimes and we grew sometimes. And all the while, though life seemed to be endless, time was passing by --- sometimes even, it might be said, passing us by.

Perhaps the answer is that in order to grow we need to experience all that life brings to us, the hurts and pains as well as the joys; the sad times as well as the happy ones. That way we will always have a yardstick to measure things by. After all, if we were perpetually in one state of mind how would we ever be able to fully appreciate it? Surely a permanent state of happiness would be unrecognisable if we never experienced sadness as well. If there were no 'lows' in life, how would we ever experience the 'highs'?

So it would seem that the answer is to plan our days and our hours carefully, deciding what is important and what is best left out, and then get on with living our lives to the full and to the benefit not only of ourselves but of others too. That most elusive of experiences --- HAPPINESS --- is found when you put others first, and the first of the 'others' to place in central position should always be Jesus Christ. When you spend your time wisely, seeking always to do what will please God, and doing it in the name of Jesus, then you will find the fulfilment of those elusive dreams.

Have a great day dear reader, and enjoy every second of it to the full!