Birthdays!

April 21, 2022

Birthdays!

It is my birthday today.  But, please do not send cards or give me bags of Peanut M & M’s! 

Time flies when you are passionately living into God’s purpose for your life.  Yes, I am older.  But, I am still passionate about serving Jesus and living into God’s purpose for me. 

However, I am beginning to measure time in a way different than I have for most of my life.  After a while, birthdays invite you to look at time in different ways. 

Last week, I was visiting with a gentleman who is about ten years older than me.  In our conversation, he said something I have heard many times before; “The older you get, the faster the years go by.”  He was both sincere and a bit prophetic.

I have finally reached the age where I am experiencing the truth of those words.  My age is a factor, Covid is a factor, and my pending retirement is a factor.  The years are passing faster than I would like.

I wonder if that was part of the emotion behind the preacher-poet’s words in Ecclesiastes 3:1-4.  The preacher-poet writes;

“For everything there is a season,

and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance…”

These verses are followed by an additional eight examples of how our life is filled with different seasons.  But, the one example that catches our attention is the first one; there is a “…time to be born, and a time to die…”

Although most of us live as if we will, the Bible is clear that we are not going to live forever in this life.  And so as our birthdays come and go, we are reminded that time passes faster than we would like.  Our life on earth will come to an end.

The good news is the Lord God is faithful no matter what season of life we are living today.  I like the prayer of King David towards the end of his life.  In Psalm 37:25 David prays; “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.”

When another birthday comes, it seems time passes faster and faster.  At the same time, the passing of the years can teach us that the Lord is faithful to those who love Him. 

When that assurance of Jesus’ faithfulness finally lodges in us, our heart will be filled with delight no matter how many birthdays we have celebrated.

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug