"Something happens when we turn 40. We begin to realize that we are not going to accomplish all the things we thougth we would when we were 20. We realize we have limits on our time, and thus, limits on what we can realistically expect to accomplish with our remaining years.
For some, this realization leads to a so-called mid-life crisis. It can lead to discouragement and even dispair as we begin to sense time slipping by at an ever quickening pace, while our dreams and goals continue to elude us.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. God’s plan is not for us to lament the passing of time, but rather to use the passing of time as a prompting to make the best of our remaining years. In Psalm 90, Moses prayed “Teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”
Moses realized his time was running out. But instead of letting that thought drive him to dispair, he used it as a prompting to redeem the time.
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"Amy Charmichael, a pioneer missionary to India, told of a night when demonic music outside her house kept her from sleep.
In the darkness she saw, as it were, a great cliff at her feet which broke off into infinite space. No bottom could be seen, only endless darkness. Then, she saw multitudes of people falling over the cliff with no one to warn them. She says, “Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge.”
“Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned towards the gulf.” They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise… if one wanted to help, the others would protest, 'Why should you get so excited about it? You haven't finished your daisy chains yet.’
My friend, will you make daisy chains today or will you redeem the time?
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"Someone noted that a clean desk is the sign of a cluttered desk drawer. One “Secrets for Success” author facetiously says, “Top management can get away with a clean desk. For the rest of us, it looks like you're not working hard enough. Build huge piles of documents around your workspace. To the casual observer, last year's work looks the same as today's work; it's volume that counts. Pile them high and wide.”
I certainly wouldn’t advocate that approach! Rather, we achieve more when we focus on the one thing God wants us to accomplish. A cluttered desktop works against that principle. There’s an old saying, “out of sight out of mind.” But the opposite is also true. In sight, means in mind.
Clearing your desktop at the beginning of the workday however can be counterproductive if it diverts your attention to trivialities just to get them off your desk. That’s why clearing your desk at the end of each workday sets tomorrow’s focus and redeems the time.
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"It’s been said that “almost” doesn’t count- except in horseshoes and hand grenades. If you almost caught your plane, you still missed your flight. Almost getting a job means you’re still unemployed. Almost missing a telephone pole with your car means you still wound up in the hospital. And a salesman who almost makes the sale gets zero commission.
How often has God given you an assignment which you got 90% complete, but you never quite brought it to the finish line? Every time that happens, you end up wasting all the time you put into the project. If you can think of something in that category, commit yourself right now as to how and when you’ll bring it to completion.
There’s one more area where “almost” doesn’t cut it. In Acts 26 we read of a king who was “almost persuaded” to become a Christian. But he died lost.
Remember, don’t let “almost” keep you from getting God’s best for your life, or from redeeming the time.
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