Thursday, September 1, 2016

September Sighs

"All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a sigh. The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass and we fly away" (Psalm 90:9-10 NIV).

The arrival of September's calendar page always brings a sigh for how quickly the summer passed and the realization that fall will soon be arriving. We are having some absolutely perfect days to enjoy in Iowa (Thank you, Lord!) so I want to soak them all in and enjoy them fully. The warmth of the sun is such a blessing. The fields of corn and soybeans are beginning to show signs of maturity. Already silage has been harvested and the seed corn fields are prepped and ready. The rains have kept the grass green in the pastures and the hay continues to grow. It is a busy season of anticipation and change.

It is also a season of acceptance of age in my life. I may still think like a 40-year-old but my body can't act like one anymore. Pain makes it so much easier to just stay seated; my arms look like I've been in battle; and my memory has taken a permanent coffee break. I think I have officially reached the September of my life.

Retirement is supposed to be a time of rest, relaxation, enjoyment, travel, and peaceful contemplation and reflection. It doesn't always turn out that way. Many people work years into their retirement and others don't live long enough to experience it. And maybe that is okay. Lots of situations in life can be worse than death. Perhaps that is why Jim Elliot wrote: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Christian author Charles R. Swindoll, tied the quote with Paul's words in Colossians 3:17, NIV. "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him".

After my September sigh for the day, I'm ready to get up and use this day to God's glory, for soon enough it will be gone.

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