Living Through The Cross

"Making the Most of Our Time"

March 1, 2008

Please read: Psalm 90
“The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” “So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.”“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!” Psalm 90:10, 12 & 17 (NRSV)

In Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time, Dorothy Bass suggests “how we live in time shapes the quality of our relationships with our innermost selves, with other people, with the natural world, and with God...We need …patterns that get us through our days not only with greater efficiency but also with greater authenticity as human beings created in God’s image.”

Recently I learned a former colleague had received bad news from doctors. After battling five-years with cancer, Jim Chastain wrote a poignant memoir. I Survived Cancer but Never Won the Tour de France which makes one laugh, cry, and consider what is important. He now faces stage 4 cancer, and a tumor sits on the blood supply to his liver, making surgery impossible. Yet the candid work of his hands will endure and offer comfort for others.

Prayer: God of all time, let not our minutes evaporate into nothing! Order our days; giving us wisdom to make the most of the time we are given, that we might honor the gift of each day and of each relationship. And prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!” Amen

Shelley Ryan - First Christian, Edmond

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