By Buddy Champion, First Baptist Church Trussville
It is hot! I know there are hotter places than central Alabama, but this weather is hot enough for me! July, August and part of September just enters the “hot” zone and it doesn’t take much to raise the “white flag” and declare we have had enough!
However, it is one of the beauties of living in the south. We have hot muggy days, then cool crisp fall mornings, cold winter days with a sprinkling of snow that shuts us down and then the warm afternoons of spring. If you don’t like the weather, hang on and give it time to change. But for today, it is hot!
We do have hope, from years of living here, we know that soon we will experience cooler weather. School will start, we will have football games, half time shows, soccer games and beautiful changing leaves. It will be a different pace and will force us back into a regular routine. We will have to prioritize what is important and what we can put off until next summer. What will that look like in your life? What will be your priority?
That is not a negative question! In fact is very positive. Even David in the Old Testament said: “Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.” Psalm 90:12 (TLB) What words of truth! How fast time flies when we are having fun! The older we become, the faster our days seem to pass.
Isn’t it encouraging to know that someone like David said “teach us?” In other words, learning to spend our days wisely is something that we can and need to learn! So how will we spend our days in this transition of season and pace of life?
Keep in mind that your days and your time are precious commodities. We can’t get back yesterday, last week or our past ole hot summer. It is gone. In fact, we can’t get back today. We need to live each day with the emphasis on “numbering our days.” Today is important!
We also recognize that time can’t be changed. We all have 60 seconds in every minute, 60 minutes in each hour, 24 hours in each day and 168 hours each week. That can’t be changed, but how we spend them can! We can’t change our time but we can change our priorities. As David said, we can spend our days “as we should.”
Again, in the New Testament we read: “Be very careful, then, how you live–not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity…” Ephesians 5:15-16 (NIV) It is hot, but soon our days will change. Determine now to capitalize on that change and make your days count for God! You will be glad you did.