Smoke in the Wind

Smoke in the Wind
Time is no respecter of persons. Every individual only has twenty four hours in a given day. Yet, time is a strange thing. The days seem long, but the years are short. It can feel like you have been stuck in the same Tuesday for four days, while simultaneously seeming like the Christmas decorations just came down. In only the blink of an eye five years have passed by. Truly James is right when we says that our lives are as a vapor. Like smoke in the wind that is here for a moment and gone the next, so are the days of man. 

It is important for the Christian to consider the end. To realize that your life and my life are fleeting. This is what David remembers in Psalm 39 when he says, “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am.” David will go on to describe man’s life as a shadow, a mere breath. To have the reality of life and death set before us routinely is helpful. It can help us readjust our perspective. It clarifies what is truly important in life.

I am reminded of a story told me by an older minister. He once visited with a woman in her thirties who was in the hospital. This woman had cancer that was destroying every piece of her body. On one of the last visits that this minister had with this woman she told him something that would never leave mind. She told him that one of the greatest gifts the Lord had even given her was cancer because it stripped life of all the superficiality and nonsense. The brevity of life put before this woman transformed her. Knowing that life was short, her last days on this planet were spent in sweet fellowship with the Lord, speaking gently with friends and family, all the while pointing people to Jesus.

The days are long but the years are short. Some of us are on the home stretch, whether we know it or not. So we must ask ourselves some pertinent questions. If you and I were to stand before the Lord tomorrow, how would we live today? How would we speak to strangers and family? What would we tell our children and friends? Perhaps it would do us all some good to be reminded of the brevity of life. May God help us in our short days to live for Him.

Grace be with you, 

C. R. Hamilton