KNOWING THE MEASURE OF MY DAYS
- March 28, 2017
- by
Dr. Stephen Strange: I'm not ready.Familiar?
The Ancient One: No one ever is. We don't get to choose our time. [takes his hand]
The Ancient One: Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered. Your time is short. You'd think after all this time, I'd be ready. But look at me. Stretching one moment out into a thousand... just so that I can watch the snow.
Yes. Those are some lines from the movie called "Doctor Strange".
From a scene you don't wish to see happening, but needs to take over for Strange to realize things, to get out from his comfort zone and to think outside of himself.
and yes, i am trying to come up with the safest answer possible without spoiling the movie.
Some of you have seen it anyway.
SPOILER
ALERT: For someone who has eternal life, she saw the beauty of death and
implies that knowing your life will one day end, will make you live it to the
fullest. The piece of wisdom thrown by “The Ancient One”, a role played by
Tilda Swinton, was once a prayer of King David in the Bible. In Psalms 39, the
Beloved King amidst God’s disciplinary hands prays for Wisdom and this includes
guarding his ways by guarding his tongue (his
words not his tongue literally), and asking God to make Him know the measure
of his days:
“4 Lord, make
me to know my end, and what is the measure of my days;
That I may know how frail I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and
my age is nothing before You;
Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor.
6 Surely every man walks about like a shadow, surely they busy themselves up in vain;
He heaps up riches and does not know who will gather
them.
7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.”
Knowing a moment will end helps us appreciate it more.
You see when a person is dying, when
a relationship is at the verge of breaking, when a school year is near ending,
when co-workers start resigning and whatever it is that starts fleeting, it is
where we are most sincere and wise; simply because we don’t want any moment
wasted. We want to embrace it fully. We want to make it right.
But why wait until the moment starts
fading when we could be our most sincere and wise selves everyday of our lives?
Whenever we attend evangelistic fellowships
in Al-kharj, Saudi Arabia and the older ones get inspired by the passion and
the times committed by the younger ones towards God, we often hear the words…
“I wish I could’ve spent my youth
the way you’re spending it with the Lord…”
Just like everyone else, they tried
to live their life fully outside the presence and guidance of the Lord, and
just like everyone else, they failed. Most of us are blessed enough to be given
enough time to repent and come back to Him and on our way He welcomes us
wholeheartedly.
The Preacher in the book of
Ecclesiastes spent his life discovering the vanity of life and everything under
the sun: pleasure, selfish toil, popularity, gain and honor. Things we pursue
in this life, thinking through it we will find our purpose and value, but even
the preacher who has and accomplished everything, tells us that all this also
is vanity.
If that’s the case, what hope do we
have in living our lives full and with a purpose?
Honor and enjoy your Creator while you’re still young,Before the years take their toll and your vigor wanes, Before your vision dims and the world blurs, And the winter years keep you close to the fire. In old age, your body no longer serves you so well. Muscles slacken, grip weakens, joints stiffen. The shades are pulled down on the world. You can’t come and go at will. Things grind to a halt. The hum of the household fades away. You are wakened now by bird-song. Hikes to the mountains are a thing of the past. Even a stroll down the road has its terrors. Your hair turns apple-blossom white, Adorning a fragile and impotent matchstick body. Yes, you’re well on your way to eternal rest, While your friends make plans for your funeral. Life, lovely while it lasts, is soon over. Life as we know it, precious and beautiful, ends. The body is put back in the same ground it came from.The spirit returns to God, who first breathed it.
The last and final word is this:
Fear God.
Do what He tells you.
And that’s it.
-Ecclesiastes 12:1-7, 13-14Eventually God will bring everything that we do out into the open and judge it according to its hidden intent, whether it’s good or evil.
