Focus Your Life On Eternity

I know I had promised to continue our walk through the tabernacle today, but I have decided to put that off until tomorrow. I am trying to clarify my thoughts on the concept of light so that I can write about them with clarity. My thoughts remain muddy this morning.

Instead, I want to share this wonderful picture with you. Four weeks ago today, my Dad, Mom, Marissa and I went on a picnic at our city’s park. After the picnic, we went shopping in the specialty shops that line the historic downtown district. We went home and I made spaghetti with meatballs and garlic bread for dinner.

After dinner, we hung the wooden blinds my Dad had bought for Marissa’s new room. Marissa and I had been so busy painting and cleaning, that we hadn’t even thought about a window covering yet. I say “we hung” but, actually, my husband did the work. My Dad supervised. He told me that there could only be one supervisor so I had to be the “stupid-visor.” It seemed a normal, family time. I was really enjoying my parent’s visit.

Most of my regular readers know that the next morning, my Dad had a massive heart attack and died. The picture was taken while we were at our picnic and is one of my most valuable treasures. A picture of my Dad on the last day he was alive. I cannot believe that I had the privilege of being with him. My parent’s lived several states away and I only got to see them a couple weeks out of the year. I didn’t know my Dad was going to die, but God did. This is just one example of many that I could share that demonstrated God’s hand working to comfort me.

In the days following my Dad’s death, one of my sister’s friends sent a card. In it she wrote, “It just prove that life is short and that we should live each day as if it were our last.” I didn’t think much of it at the time, but as I have mentally relived those days, I realized that this is another cultural lie that defines our thinking and, ultimately influences our choices and behavior. Yet, when compared to Biblical truth, this statement is proven to be a myth.

One of the basic worldview questions that we must answer is “What happens to a man at death.” Scripture teaches us that man, made in the very image of God, possesses an immortal spirit that survives the death of the body. This life is not all there is. We should really say, “Life is short and we should live each day with our mind on eternity.” It is that truth that should define our thinking and ultimately influence our behavior. It is the stuff legacies are made of ~