Prioritizing Your Life - Day 3

Today I write with a heavy heart because upon arriving at work this morning I found out that a friend I work with had passed away suddenly the Friday before while on vacation. She was one of those amazing people that you just enjoyed being around. Always happy. Sure of her place in God's love. And, passionate about what she did and the people in her life. When I think that just the week before she had been in my office getting help for someone she was working with, a tear comes to my eye. I have to admit that my first reaction was "You have got to be kidding me!" She was only 51, and (I will be 51 in a couple of month) it was only a little over a week ago that my brother and I had the conversation where he told me about the woman in his office who had passed away suddenly. Then, I found a sense of peace, cried for my friend's family and realized that there is a lesson here. A lesson about having our priorities right, and being first the person of God you have been called to be. Take a look at this verse:

LORD, make me to know my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
Psalm 39:4-5

David prayed to God to know how long his life would be, but, God didn't answer David, and he doesn't answer us - at least not directly. But, God does allow and ordain events in our lives and in the lives of those around us to give us a glimpse into what He has for us. I truly believe that God will do whatever He has to do to get His people to the place He wants us to be. I've been a part of that before. Remember, God tells us


For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD. 9(A) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."Isaiah 55:8-9

It may seem harsh to us that God would allow something like that to happen, but He has a greater plan and one we can't understand. If one of us who knew either of these people examines our lives and makes a change that brings about more change in our life and in the lives of those around us, then neither life was lost in vain. But, we have to be willing to hear God's voice and to try to understand what it is that he wants us to learn from the passing of these lives. If all we get is that we don't know how long we have, then we've missed the message. Perhaps what it is that God is trying to tell us is that our priorities are not where He needs them to be, but where we want them to be. There is a difference yo know. And, that is what God wants us to realize. That brings us to lesson 3.

3. None of us knows if we have a tomorrow, so why are we so busy planning for it. Today is what matters. As my dad used to say, "No one who was dying ever said they wished they had more time to work." So, why is that what consumes us? That is not what God designed us for. He designed us to worship Him and to walk with Him. Yes, most of us have to work, but work must be what we do, not who we are.

I leave you today with this verse:

So do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34.

And, I say a tearful good-bye to someone I cared about but I know that in her death, God is drawing me and others who knew her closer to Him.