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.
