Challenging Thought for Today:
To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Many years ago, the daughter of one of my good friends came into my office as I was eating. She reminded me that it was “way past lunchtime”. I told her that I had been very busy that day and did not stop for lunch at noon. By the time I got around to eating, I did not realize how late it actually was. She responded by telling me about a poster she had seen with a message at the top that read, “I was put here on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things before I leave”. The bottom of the poster read, “At the rate I’m going, I don’t think I will ever die.” She was only in the third or fourth grade and I was a little surprised that she could make such an excellent analogy, but I just laughed at her and went on with my meal. However, what she said always stayed with me and I think of it often. It’s actually a very funny way of reminding us that our time is not our own. Whether we like to think about it or not, today’s verse for thought reminds us that we were indeed put here on earth to accomplish a certain amount of things before we leave. The bad news is whether we accomplish those things are not, our allotted time here does not change. So many people leave this earth never fulfilled in life because they squander it away waiting for a better time to do what they would like to do. Sadly, this is even true for those of us who feel led of God to accomplish things in and through ministry. Instead of asking God to help us manage our time in a way that is both pleasing to him and helpful to us, we live our lives under the false impression that our time is our own.  Unfortunately, this puts us in a position to allow fear, hurt, disappointment and other challenges of life to rob us of many great accomplishments that we plan to tackle when we have more “time”.

Do you ever wonder how many missed opportunities you have had to touch the lives of others or even enhance your own life for the better? Think about that as you go through your day today and take inventory of your daily accomplishments. Are you satisfied with them? Is God?
Be Blessed,

Shelia