Category: Mist

What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes (James 4:14).

I always feel a twinge of sadness after spending a wonderful day with my family. Like the child of long ago, lying in bed, frightened and alone in the dark, I feel a sense of grief, as if a piece of me has died. The only things that exist are the ghostly shadows floating around in the chambers of my mind. And my heart mourns the death of another, fulfilling day, never to be lived again.

I try to remind myself how short life is and to live each day as if it were my last, but I’m not very good at it. I take each day for granted, as if there’s a million more to live, to wipe the slate clean and start over again. Then one day, I stand in front of the mirror, hopelessly searching for my younger self trapped in another time zone.

Each day is like manna from heaven. We can’t store it, borrow from it, or save it for a rainy day. We have twenty-four hours to live it, and then it’s gone. What we do with those twenty-four hours is up to us.

In the short time Jesus walked this earth, he taught his listeners how to live each day, but they didn’t get it either. Help the poor, he said. Don’t worry about tomorrow. Trust me. Love your enemies and do good to those who hurt you. Follow me, I am the only way, the truth, and the life. I will lead you safely home. I will give you peace and rest for your weary souls.

I’ve been blessed with many years, some I wasted, which I regret. But I can’t go back in time and change a thing, and if I could, I’d probably make it worse. All I have is today. Maybe it’s a sunny day, maybe it’s a stormy day, but it’s the only day God has promised me. How I live it is up to me. And I can’t do that very well without God’s help because some days are just too hard, and I’m too tired and frustrated to deal with it.

Life on Earth will end one day, and that is frightening. But eternal life will begin either in Heaven or in Hell. Today is the only day you have to choose which one it will be. And salvation is simple: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life John 3:16).