“What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears."—James 4:14
Some days, you really notice. You notice that it seemed only five minutes ago that you woke up and sipped your first coffee and here it is 5 p.m. already. Where did the day go? And by the way, weren’t we just shoveling out from 37 inches of snow, so how did we get to yard work and black flies already?
Yesterday, “really notice” happened again. While walking down to the beach to catch the sun rising over the Atlantic, I passed a blanket of cool mist that was hung beautifully over the relatively mild marsh (pictured). Some of it was still there when I came by again about a half-hour later, but much of it had quickly become just a beautiful memory. Life had moved on.
It’s all a reminder, as the psalmist realized, to regularly ask God not in a scary way, “let me know how fleeting is my life” (Psalm 39:4), and perhaps in a more intentional way, “Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Or, as one translation emphatically puts it, “Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well!”
And maybe the best way to do that is to remember what it’s like being a kid and a parent…
Both of my children are now quite adult and in their mid-30s, but I still get people asking “how are your kids?” I catch myself calling them the same thing, too, and it’s probably because God has engrained that timeless concept deep into our DNA. After all, regardless of our age, God still lovingly calls us who believe His kids, too: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)
Maybe because a child often looks to the parent first for every single need and then later in life for wisdom and counsel and guidance. The child may grow up and have a family of his or her own, but the parent is always just a call away. And a parent is always a parent, no matter how old the child is. Hardly a day goes by when the parent doesn’t pray for or think fondly about a child. A parent always wants to hear from the kids and longs to see them, and always wants the best for them. The door is always open and the light is always on.
And to think that we have the world’s most perfectly amazing Parent!
But while always never more than a breath away, God is no helicopter Dad—He has created us kids to learn from Him and then launch out and make our own mark in our corner of the world with our mist-like lives. To live "wisely and well." It could be one of a million beautiful, meaningful, even life-changing things. And it doesn't matter how young or old we are. But if it is only this, it will be enough …
“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with Hm and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.” (Ephesians 5:1-2, Message)
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