Moses teaches us in Psalm 90:12 to Number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. When you see how much time you have left you tend to get serious about the time you have now. The message at my church today focused on raising children. To illustrate the short amount of time you have as a parent before your children go off to college or enter the workforce or military, the pastor filled a glass jar with 1000 marbles. That is how many weeks you have with them. 1000 weeks. Or 1000 weekends. It goes by so fast. By seeing this visually the hope is that life comes into better focus. Similar to the heightened focus during the last minute or so of any competitive sporting event.
For those who are diagnosed with Cancer the same thing happens. Time becomes more important. More real. Not taken for granted. I couldn’t help but think of Tim McGraw’s song Live Like You Were Dying from 2004. The message is clear.
Why does it take a life threatening illness for many to re-evaluate what is important?
What is important to you?