Rear View Mirror

#1788

1. I must use life well, because every moment of it is so precious. The minutes and hours of life are like the gold-dust which the goldsmith so carefully gathers together that none be lost. "I have lost a day!" was the sorrowful lament of one who had learned the real value of time. Life is very precious, and I dare not and will not throw any of it away!

2. I must also use life well, because it will soon be over. "The time is short!" 1 Corinthians 7:29. My days and years will soon be spent, and I cannot recall them. My life is but a shadow--it is but a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. Even if I am spared to the full age of man, compared with the long life awaiting me hereafter--my life here is but as a moment. "You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before You. Each man's life is but a breath." Psalm 39:5. 

Let me endeavor then to remember how soon life will be gone, and be very careful to use well each precious moment.

If I had a little bucket of water, and no more could be obtained--how carefully would I watch that none of it ran to waste. Each drop I would reckon of great value. Such is my life. It is all I have. I must therefore lose none. I must squander none. "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalm 90:12 

3. I must use life well, because it is very uncertain. I may have far less than I think. I may be looking forward to years to come--and yet I may have but a few months or weeks or days to live!

I remember a woman who said that some day she would begin to attend our village church. She was in middle age, and had lived a sadly wicked and abandoned life. She thought that she had time enough and to spare, to think of more serious subjects. She did indeed soon afterwards come to our village church--but how did she come? She was carried in a casket on men's shoulders, and then left in the silent grave. Only six weeks had passed since the day she promised that some day she would begin a new life. "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth!" Proverbs 27:1 

So I trust my life will not be a wasted one. And though I can do but little compared with many others, I trust that He will say to me at last: "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little--I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your Master!" Matthew 25:23 

The mortality rate is still 100%.  Most of my family, friends, neighbors do not think they are going to die, but most will.  You put on your socks in the morning but the undertaker may take them off at night.  AND, there is not always time for a "grand finale" (preparation for death at a hospital, nursing home, etc.) such as was the case this weekend with US Senator Fred Thompson, actor, talk show host, who expected death.  It may be the case of the 224 in the airplane which exploded over Egypt, or an auto crash, or a stray bullet.  The matter is to be prepared for death. 

When you get my age, 85, you know that at best you do not have that much time left.  You  might be like one of my grandfather's who did not buy many groceries ahead of time.  After age 50, every day seems like Friday, you can hardly believe that time goes by so fast.  I can remember, as a child, how long it took for Christmas to arrive. 

Another matter, I want to caution old people about, don't spend so much time looking into the rear view mirror.  I find myself thinking and talking so much about the past.  I so pity people who have no memories, family, home/places, church yards, homecomings.  One of the greatest joys of my life as a young person, was listening to old people talk about their memories.  I still remember my maternal grandmother talking about her mother's recounting of the Civil War.  She told about her mother leading the milk cow way down into the woods because Sherman's troops were coming through burning and pillaging everything, capturing all the mules, hogs, chickens.  If they got the cow, then there would be no milk for babies or old people.  Can we even imagine that young girls thoughts as she saw smoke from the houses they were burning?  Not knowing if there would be anyone left alive when she returned home, except she and the cow.  The Yankee's actually threw dead dogs into the wells to pollute the well water.  After all, when I was a child, it was not that long ago.  Many of my relatives were born while their father's were away at the war. 

For the Christian, the child of God, eternal life has already begun.  We just go through one death, clinical death, for the unbeliever there is that second death.  An eternity of tragedy, hell, for the Christian we have joys forever. 

I don't want the Federal Government to spend any money on the burial of this old blind veteran.  They enjoy ignoring me most of my life.  But I do want a small marker at my grave with just my name.  I have worked hard for my academic degrees, my military rank but I just want my name and this verse of scripture:  "Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee" Psalms 63:3