A couple of long time patients came in to see me yesterday.  We’ll call them Ed and Francine to protect their identity.  The years have not been kind to this couple, both in their 70’s.  Multiple health issues leave me wondering each time I see them whether they will still be around for their next appointment.

But you wouldn’t know it talking to them.  They are living for today.  At their last visit Ed had heard that I wrote a book, and had bought a copy of it.  During this visit he was much more interested in how ‘doc’s new book’ was doing than any bit of advice that I had for him about his health. 

I asked them how long they had been married, and immediately Francine piped in, with quite a bit of enthusiasm I might add, “Fifty Three Years!”.  Ed added that they were twenty-one when they got married; and Francine, sounding a bit irritated, corrected him and stated, for the record: “twenty-two years old”.

And that started me reflecting on what The Scriptures say about our time here being but a whisper, gone as quickly as the grass withers.  At twenty-one … er, sorry Francine … twenty-two years old, I’m sure my friends thought they had an eternity before them.  Yet now, but a whisper later, every moment has become a gift to them, a time to be cherished and lived. 

I am saddened by how much of my life has been lived with the attitude that I have forever to get to that. ‘Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 4:7).

I wonder if that is why it is so hard to hear God’s voice at times, because I am more interested in hearing for tomorrow than today?  I wonder if that is why my faith seems so easily shaken by the events of today when I have already, in my own flesh, planned out my tomorrows.

I believe that God is again setting a certain day, calling it today.  Whether you are twenty-one or seventy-one, he is waiting for you to listen. 

Do not harden your hearts.

To the King,

David