Life--A Gift

It's been a great birthday:

• Stayed up late talking with my mom and sister.
• The blessing of sleeping in my own bed for the first time in 10 days.
• The surprise of cookies in my car that my sister baked for me.
• Getting emails and texts and facebook messages throughout the day filled with encouragement and memories of friends.
• The reminder that life is a gift and our days are numbered as I saw an over-turned car on the freeway on the way to work.
• The blessing of spiritual food and the overwhelming love of the Father in Hosea 2.
• Exhortation from 1 Timothy 6 about fighting the good fight.
• A great prayer from the end of Ephesians 1.
• The blessing of having and out of the ordinary day at work with traveling around to different schools and being able to listen to the Word being preached and worship in singing.
• The blessing of my brother going out of his way to BBQ an amazing roast and make milk shakes.
• Etc.

The Lord has been so good to me in this short 24 hour period... and His goodness doesn't change, even though I fail to recognize His blessings so often.  The Lord has been so good to me this year.  The reality is that I am not guaranteed tomorrow or even the next hour here on earth.  Five individuals were crushed under stage equipment in Indiana where I was less than a week ago.  I don't know how long I have, but what I do know is that I need Him to teach me to number my days so that I present to Him a heart of wisdom.  I love the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and was reminded of the one that has stood out the most to me:

Resolved, never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

Life is an interesting thing.  We must live in the moment.  As Jim Elliot says and I wholeheartedly agree, "Wherever you are--be all there."  At the same time, we must have eternity in our hearts.  We are eternal beings.  What I eat today doesn't matter for eternity.  What does matter is that I do all (even the mundane things like eating) for the glory of God.  It comes down to living 100% in this moment for the glory that is to be revealed in Christ for eternity.  I fall so so short.  That is what makes Christ so real to me.  The guilt of my sin satisfied by the love of Christ in taking that guilt upon Himself so that I could be declared not guilty before the throne of God Almighty.  My sin is great, but my savior is greater still. 

God, take this year of my life and use it for Your glory.  You deserve nothing less than all of me.  Take all that You have given me, time, money, possessions, etc. and use it how You deem best.  Gently peel my fingers off anything that I am holding onto as my own that is really Yours.  Cause me to be a living sacrifice that is holy and acceptable to You this year.  Give me a heart of vision for eternal things and a heart a wisdom in how to apply that knowledge in every "this moment" of this next year.  Make me Your prized possession... not because I deserve to be, but because You deserve all of me.  Rid my heart of anything that holds me back from being fully Yours.  Thank You for this year.  I love You.