I was prompted to to think about the briefness of our time on earth several years ago when we were returning from the national HSLDA state leaders’ conference in Spokane.  Driving across Montana can be  an exercise in boredom for some, but for Bill and me it is a joy immeasurable.  We love the wide open spaces of eastern Montana where you can see the horizon in every direction. 

Whenever we take a long trip I have a sense of excitement as I near the North Dakota border...coming home is sometimes the best part of a trip for me!  My husband always toots the horn as we enter our state.  That anticipation of getting home got me to thinking about that same feeling for my eternal home.  

My next major chronological milestone is the age of 60.  The years have passed rapidly.  As I continue my journey towards heaven I have become more thoughtful about the whole process of life, the point of our toil and the sureness of what is and what is not important. 

The wisest mortal who ever lived, Solomon, said this, “For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.  And how does a wise man die? As the fool!” 

Our lives are brief and they will be remembered only by those whom we have personally touched in some way.  Generally, once our children and grandchildren are gone....we are remembered no more.  It is the order of things.  And I say as Solomon said, “I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever.”  There is sweet comfort in these words.

What will I be remembered for?  Baroness Karen Blixen who wrote under the pseudonym, Isak Dinesen, said this as she contemplated her forced exile from Kenya, a land she loved:

“If I know  song of Africa--I thought,-- of the Giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the ploughs in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of me?  Would the air over the plain quiver with a colour that I had had on, or the children invent a game in which my name was, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or would the eagles of Ngong look out for me?” 

What song will the world sing of me? What shadow will my loved ones cast that was like me?  What will they remember of me? 

What will your loved ones remember of you?  Will people talk of your happy heart and abundant mercy?  Will they remember your Christ-likeness? Will anyone even remember that you kept a clean house or will they remember how gracious you always were and how gentle you treated others in that house?   Will your children and grandchildren smile when they speak your name...even long after you have gone to be with Jesus?  Will they remember your willingness to serve and, even harder for many of us, our willingness to be served?

Life is ephemeral. Today we work. Tomorrow we fly away.  Here is what Ecclesiastes says:

“One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever.” (Ecc. 1:4)  “As he came from his mother’s womb, naked shall he return.  To go as he came; and he shall take nothing from his labor which he may carry away in his hand.” (Ecc. 5:15)   “No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death.” (Ecc. 8:8) “For man does not know his time.” (Ecc.9:12)  “If a person lives many years let him rejoice in them all.”  (Ecc. 11:8A) “For man goes to his eternal home.” (Ecc.12:5b) “Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well.  Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.” (Ecc.12:6) 

Solomon concluded his thoughts by delineating the whole duty of man, “Fear God and keep His commandments.” 

So because life is so temporary, so transient we must diligently make each day count. 

The great hymnist Isaac Watts put it this way:

A thousand ages in thy sight

Are like an evening gone

Short as the watch that ends the night

Before the rising sun.

Time, like an ever rolling stream

Bears all its sons away

They fly, forgotten, as a dream

Dies at the opening day.

O, God, our help in ages past

Our hope for years to come

Be thou our guard while life shall last

And our eternal home.

Comfort can be found in the old gospel song, seldom heard in modern churches today.

Jesus, Saviour, pilot me

Over life’s tempestuous sea;

Unknown waves before me roll,

Hiding rock and treacherous shoal;

Chart and compass came from Thee

Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.

As a mother stills her child,

Thou can’st hush the ocean wild;

Boisterous waves obey Thy will

When Thou say’st to them, “Be still!’

Wondrous Sovereign of the sea,

Jesus, Saviour, pilot me.

When at last I near the shore,

And the fearful breakers roar

‘Twixt me and the peaceful rest,

Then, while leaning on Thy breast,

May I hear Thee say to me, “Fear not, I will pilot thee.”

These are not thoughts on dying; they are thoughts on living. Every day, dear ones, we must live life with the zeal that comes from knowing we belong to the Great Creator and Sustainer of all. 

Has He given you burdens to bear?  He will under gird you.  Has He allowed sorrows in your walk with Him?  He will be your Divine Comfort.  Have you been abandoned, physically or emotionally?  Have you lost a loved one to death? Our great God will never leave you or forsake you.  And when finally we come to the end of our lives and enter our eternal home we can confidently say that God has been with us all the way.

Clean houses, academically bright children, home-cooked meals from scratch, ironed clothes or neatly folded laundry do not count for eternity.  If these are tasks God has given you then HOW you do them is much more important than HOW you do them. 

You will look back someday as I have and be amazed at how quickly your little one has gone from child to young woman to wife and mother.  You will be stunned by the passing of the years.  Do everything you can to prevent regrets.  Do what you can...don’t try to do what you can’t.  Do what is essential and skip the nonessentials.  Children remember when Mom takes time for an autumn walk on an unusually mild November day or plans a trip to the zoo.   They won’t remember if your house was spotless or if their clothes were ironed. 

Our walk with God is, “A long, steady obedience in the same direction.” It’s so easy to get off course.  As on a stormy sea, we can be tossed about by every wind of new ideas or curriculum or educational method that comes our way until we are confused and exasperated by the whole tortuous journey.  It doesn’t have to be that way.

In just a few short years I will be 60.  I have few regrets...but the ones I have that haunt me are the regrets about those I hurt, or ignored, or failed to love...the wasted time I spent in foolishness and the failures I experienced in my life as wife and mother...the time not taken to listen to a little red-headed girl or the flippant way I dismissed the thoughts of my tentative husband. But, by God’s good and plenteous grace, even the years poorly spent ended up making me who I am, again, by God’s good grace. 

A Proverbs 31 woman I will  probably never be.  But I can be constantly growing more like Christ and I can be more merciful, more gracious, less rushed and my life can be suffused with kindness.   That’s my goal...to grow old with grace so that when people see me they really don’t see me at all, instead they see Jesus. 

I want my loved ones to remember that I loved God more than anything and although I failed repeatedly I never quit. 

So my admonition to you is this:  You are engaged in the discipling and education of your children...you could hardly pick a more worthwhile endeavor.  Feeling exhausted some days?  Most days?  Don’t give up...this is worth more than you can imagine.  And someday when you approach your sixth decade you will be able to look back and see the delicious fruits of your perseverance.  And your children will rise up and call you “Blessed!”

Elisabeth Elliot’s aunt, Anne Howard, penned the following encouragement that can be an internal compass and prayer:

Help me to live this day quietly, easily;

To lean upon Thy great strength trustfully,

  restfully;

To meet others peacefully, joyously;

To face tomorrow confidently, courageously.

Finally, I memorized the following prior to our trip to India in 1997.  I was fearful of the journey, as though God was not in India!

Stilled now be every anxious care;

See God’s great goodness everywhere;

Leave all to Him in perfect rest;

He will do all things for the best.

And this is my prayer for you:  That God will quiet your hearts, lead you in the paths of peace and fill you to overflowing with His mercy and grace so that it can’t help but spill out all over everyone you come in contact with, for the sake of His glorious Name!  Like the Psalmist said, may we recognize that God will guide us to our desired haven. (Ps. 107:30b)