As the calendar flips another page, I am reminded of the inexorable passage of time. Below is a great video that creates a visual reminder of the “number of our days” (Psalm 90:12). Watch the video now, and then rejoin my thoughts underneath. (If you receive this via email, the video may not embed. Please click through to the site and watch it. Only two minutes long but forever a memory.)
The jelly bean makes for a rich metaphor. When you eat them, do you separate them first by color, discard the ones you don’t like, and save the favorites for last? But, to carry out the metaphor, in life you can’t grab a handful, you only get one, and you cannot pick only your favorite. You have only that single jelly bean each day.
The impulse is to interpret this to mean you should do something productive now. While that may be the outcome, it would be wiser to look at each day as an opportunity to rest in God … to be. It is in this place, in the bosom of the Lord, that clarity is renewed and purpose restored. You might even savor today’s jelly bean a little bit more.
Well, golly. Don’t know how many jelly beans I have left, and the ones I can see look kinda stepped-on. Pain’s beyond any rational measure, tumours are visibly growing, and I keep the most important road in my life, the path to the dunny, clear. Just need to not get my feet tangled in the oxygen hose.
Nonetheless, I’m still in the game, with a song in my heart and a project that would have you rename me Cleopatra, because I have learned that the only way to face the worst is to be the best.
Rock on.
Oh, almost forgot…well, not really. It hurts too much to rhyme, but I ought to try.
*****
Darkness falling all around,
and walls are closing in.
Rumble-earthquakes shake the ground
and tell me I won’t win.
It’s daunting to go out the door;
will I make it back?
Strength is something, more and more,
that I now seem to lack,
but every day is still a gift
for me to write its page,
and I’d have words and actions lift
the bar that locks this earthbound cage
and sets me on the path to chase
the dream to touch God’s Holy Face.
****
The closing couplet is an allusion to John Gillespie Magee’s poem, High Flight.
I share “the dream to touch God’s Holy Face.”
Beautiful words. Praying a blessing of Peace & strength over you.
Hannah, thank you so much!
Praying for you as you continue fighting the good fight!
Kelsey, your prayers are SO appreciated!
I also share the dream and look forward to touching God’s holy face. Glory!!
The song in your heart reminds me of the joy of the Lord being your strength, Andrew!
Pam, through what has become physically very hard, and exhausting, the joy remains, because it’s rooted in faith, trust, and, above all, love.
Yes, amen. ((hugs)) and prayers
I was thinking about busyness and rest recently.
Our culture certainly praises busyness, but not sure the reward is always there. I was reflecting on the passage, “Learn the unforced rhythms of grace”. (from Matthew 11:28-30)
When I was learning about the way of Christ, I always wondered why I never heard anyone talking about the “Sabbath”. Like churches or pastors. If it was there in the rhythm of the Creator laying the foundations of the earth, and it was there etched into the Ten Commandments, and it was there in the rhythm of Jesus’ worship, then maybe it was something still important for us today?
Our lack of talking about it is why our culture praises busyness, but offers no real reward.
Rest also says we trust our Father.
To work on our behalf, to fight for us when we’ve done all we can. That He is ultimately the one to win our battles. And His reward is eternal.
A friend of mine wrote his first book about the Sabbath:
What does the Sabbath (Shabbat) mean to us today?
by Clint Heineken
I write cutting-edge materials that explore the intersection of science and religion, validating the Christian faith. For example, “Can you tell me what will happen on July 11, 2553, more than 500 years into the future?”
No one can do that, but scientific dating Daniel’s time-based predictive texts reveals the future was foretold precisely, centuries in advance. True, we only have so many beans, but know that you have eternity reveals that limits of our time is only a dream. Would you truly like to know the evidence that validates this viewpoint?
Consider one of the reviews on Amazon for The Science Behind the Story of Jesus by John Zachary:
Anyone that is left-brained and curious about proving the accuracy of Bible predictions is going to love this book. It’s very obvious that the author was once an engineer due to the level of detail and reliance on math. The use of ancient calendars, information from Babylonian astronomers, data from Nasa, and a 14,000 day control period tied to major events in the bible to prove the existence of God is pure genius!
How many years are there in 14,000 days?
How incredibly sad that “caring for family or others” is a mere fraction of “watch tv”. Just think how much more full and purposeful life can be without television! Unless that time is replaced by “read a good book”!
Andrew
Darkness falling all around is beautiful. I write often on living with chronic pain. May I have permission to use your poem in the near future on my blog and tag you and your website? Susan
SusanSamsBaggott.com
Susan, absolutely, please do!
So thought provoking.
And days are subjective, aren’t they? I have loads more days of caring for others since my adult special needs daughters needs 24/7 care. And that needs to also include her medical stuff. And I sleep with her because of her seizures, which are everyday and often.
Still, I need to ask God what He would have me do with my days more often than I do.
Thanks, Steve! So thought provoking and necessary, especially in our age of distractions within arm’s reach at all times!
Today, with my single bean, I am praying and waiting. Why these two seemly insignificant and not so grand activities? Today my best friend of 35 years, who has fought cancer fearlessly and was put into palliative care this past Thursday has been hospitalized and I am praying for miracles and for the goodness of God as I wait to get permission to be by her side. I am praying and waiting for my sister in law who will bury her 22 year old son, and our nephew, tomorrow afternoon as he was killed in a head on collision last Monday in the early hours of the day before the sun dared to wake to carry the dark news to our sleeping family. I am praying and waiting for my new grandson, born the day after my best friend was told there was no more the doctors could do, born two days before our nephew went to be with Jesus. So I am praying, believing this fresh life born early came at the perfect moment to give us light and hope in this darkness as we wait for the joy that comes in the morning, the beauty from the ashes and the good from the evil our enemy has sent to our family. I am praying and waiting for the LORD of hosts to march in with his victory, destroy the darkness and burst forth in his glorious light. Today, with my solitary (blue) jelly bean I am giving it up to Jesus and painfully but heartily saying, I am making room for you to do whatever you want to, I’ll wait here with you as you move.
Oh, Kelly-Lynne!
May I offer this for you, for whatever it may be worth?
In the cold and in the dark,
in the night of loss and fear
hell has left its brutal mark;
dear God, please, would You draw near
and take in everlasting arms
everything I was, and am?
Strengthen me against the harms
and lay my head beside the Lamb
who walked this road at Your request;
Your Son, the apple of Your eye!
As my tears now flood and crest,
may You use Your robe to dry
my face, and with a whispered word
let me know my plea’s been heard.
Kelly-Lynne, I’m sitting here weeping and praying for you. And thanking God this world is not all there is.
Andrew, I wept as I prayed your sonnet. Thank you for always writing what’s needed.
Steve, thank you for giving us a place to be authentic and to feel safe sharing. And giving us the opportunity to respond.
Kelly-Lynn,
My heart hurts for you as you grapple with deep suffering and tremendous joy at the same time. You can trust God to bring his blessings and light even into those dark places. He will do it and has begun by giving them YOU.
That is a fantastical video – “O Lord, teach me(us) to # our days…”
I just got done preaching three straight weeks of teen camp (I am contending to be the oldest youth camp speaker in the world…I just turned…gasp…78).
Last week a teen and I were chatting about time, and he asked, “what would you do differently if you KNEW you were going to die tomorrow?” I thought for a moment or two before answering (which, for me, takes discipline!) and replied, “The ideal answer is I would do nothing different. I need to live each day as if it is my last; and I need to live each moment in such a way that I won’t “be ashamed at His coming.”
Other than people, time is our only real irreplaceable commodity. How tragic to waste it. I was saved while incarcerated, and still do prison ministry. As I tell the inmates, “Don’t just do time, redeem time.” We also say, “Do your own time.” Not bad advice behind the walls, nor bad advice for us all.
Thank you for this post.
Simple jelly beans =such wisdom.
Teach me to number my days.
Thanks