‘Waste not, want not’. Good advice! Don’t waste your life , and you’ll not want for meaning and purpose in the short years we’re given. Seems like life is on the fast-track in the latter years. Know what I mean? Like the ride uphill was not as fast-and-furious as the downhill slope and slide! Time flies by… but you don’t get any frequent-flier miles!
As I look back, it bothers me about all those opportunities I’ve squandered. Time wasted, the living for the Lord that was in name only. With that in mind, I was hooked and dragged to shore by Proverbs 5:9–‘lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless’.
I can’t blame others for the wasted times. I’d like to, but I gave them away. And I can’t get them back. Words said that are forever out there. Words not said that would have helped and maybe healed. Who knows? Too late now.
Things done that can’t be undone. Things not done forever incomplete. Given away. Tossed to the wind of whim and whimsy. Proverbs warns against giving away our honor and our years. We have choices to make in life. The way of wisdom or the way of folly.
I’m not blaming someone else for all the times I’ve given away. I’d still like to! Certainly, there have been many times when others have wronged me, causing pain and mess, not of my own making. For you too? Not much you can do about that except to let it go, to move forward and let the Lord take care of them and their malicious designs; and, in some cases, to walk out of their lives for good.
What the Bible is saying is to get focused, get on track with the dreams and desires of my life. A life for Him. A life for others– not for me alone. Find out more about who God made us to be. Try, as best you can, to follow the star of Jesus to make the most of the best that God has in store for us. And when we fail, we find Him to be merciful and gracious, loving us like no one has ever loved us before or since. Amen? Amen!
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for a life worth living. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Reflections out of time 