As the father of two young boys, there’s one bit of unsolicited advice I hear all the time: “Enjoy them while you can because they grow up so fast!” Whether we are at a restaurant, church, or the mall, people see our sweet little dudes doing something cute or playful, then look at my wife and I and sigh as they share these words.
I’ve chosen to take it as a cautionary reminder because it is absolutely true. They do grow up fast. Too fast.
Aaron, one of my worship leader friends, is active on Twitter. He loves to post pictures of him doing fun things with his two kids. Sometimes they are playing air guitar in their pajamas in the living room. Other times they’re at soccer practice or waiting for the school bus. Almost always, he posts these pictures with the Twitter hashtag, #7000days.
Seven thousand days. That’s about 19.18 years. For most of us as parents, that’s about all the time we have with our children before they become young adults who make many of their own decisions. That’s not very long. What I love about Aaron’s hashtags is that with every post, it’s as if he is saying, “I know 7000 days isn't as long as it seems, so I’m trying to steward the gifts and time God has entrusted to me.”
What a great reminder.
In Psalm 90:12, Moses prays to God, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Like it or not, time is finite. It’s limited. And you don’t have to be a parent to understand the concept of numbering your days. Whether it’s 7,000 days with your children, or 31,000 days of your life, we have a limited amount of time on earth, and we must learn to number our days so we gain a heart of wisdom on how to best spend them.
Wisdom is all about making the best choice with what we are given. We can’t possibly know the total number of our days, so wisdom here dictates that we make the best use of the time we’ve been given today. Maybe you have 2,000 more healthy days left. Maybe you have 800 more days of being single. Maybe you have 14 more days of working at your job. The question is not, “Well, how many days do I have left?” The question is, “How can I leverage the time I have now to make the greatest impact for Jesus that I can possibly make today?”
Question:
What are some good ways to remind yourself to leverage each day for God’s Kingdom?