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more steamy thoughts

We live, we love. We forgive and never give up.
'Cause the days we are given are gifts from above.
~ "We Live" from SuperChik's Beauty from Pain 1.1

Tonight I heard more than one person comment on how they wished they had lived for Christ in their twenties. Today I also talked with more than one person who has serious health issues and each day, and sometimes nights, is a struggle of great sorts. This morning I was reminded of the importance of forgiveness and not keeping wrongs, and how that is such an ongoing battle of the flesh.

Our lives are vapors, the Scripture tells us. We're essentially steam...not only in the air we breathe in and out, but also in essence of time.

I don't know what made me realize this a few months ago, but if I live the average life span that my grandmothers lived, my life is now half over. That's a very sobering thought. Mind you, I was one of those teens who read Ephesians 6 about children obeying their parents so they could live longer and was in a crux. I wanted to do right and obey my parents, but I've never wanted to live to be old. But still, there's so much I want to do and accomplish in my life. I'm starting to recognize that many of them will never, ever happen, and that's okay. Other things I've started making more of a concerted effort to see the dreams come to fruition. It's as if I've turned the hourglass and the sand is pouring.

And I still find myself struggling to reconcile what the world teaches is success, what makes me happy, and what the Bible teaches. And those three things don't always blend harmoniously, if at all. So it may be as this body continuously vents its remaining steam, I find my dreams and goals morphing into something different. Meanwhile, I've got to recognize each day as the good gift my Maker has given me and use it wisely.

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