Anytime you go to a memorial service or a funeral, it causes you to be reminded that life is short.  I was reminded of that once again at Ellie Jauregui’s memorials service.  For those of you that did not have the blessing of knowing Ellie, she was a beautiful 8 year old girl that touched many lives in the midst of her struggle with retts syndrome. This past week she went home to be with the Lord and since that time, this verse has been thrust to the forefront of my mind.

You see, none of us has any idea of how tomorrow will unfold. We make our plans; as Proverb says, “a man plans His course but the Lord determines his steps.”  The truth is our lives, whether we like it or not, are in the sovereign hands of God. For some that is fearful; and it should be if they do not know God and if they have not received the atonement for their sin by the blood of Jesus Christ. Yet for us who have this hope and have placed our trust and faith in Him, we can rest knowing that our Loving, Gracious, and Merciful Father knows absolutely what is best and needed for us!

I talked with a man earlier this month, and He said “Loren this last year has been a tremendous year of growth in my walk with God. I love God and I desire to be passionate about God. I have grown more in this past year than any other time in my walk.” Then later as he was talking about various financial difficulties that he was in he said “I just do not understand why this is happening?” I looked at Him and simply said remember what you had just told me, that you were growing, that you are now passionate about the things of God, don’t you understand that God is more concerned about us personally than our present comfortability! This last year you grew in your walk God because you finally started spending time with Him! You took your eyes off of what you deemed as success and put them on the perfect picture of success!

Listen – wherever you are at, in whatever state you may be in, life is too short to fret and worry about tomorrow! Tomorrow is something that we do not know about nor do we have control over! Tomorrow could bring joy, tomorrow could bring sorrow, or tomorrow may be the day that you are taken home to be with the Lord for this life is so short!

Can I encourage you TODAY, to pause and take some time from what may or may not even matter in light of eternity, to first and foremost THANK GOD! Glorify Him! Worship Him! Love Him! You may even need to wrestle through some questions in your mind or some issues in your heart! Thats O.K. Read the Psalms and see that David wrestled out loud often with GOD!

Once you have spent time with God, tell your wife you love her and mean it! Get her a card, or write a note on a piece of paper and leave it on the bathroom mirror, computer, or counter. Keep it simple, Keep it sweet!
Tell your husband “you know what babe, you’re the man, and I just love being your wife!”  Trust me he will eat that up!
Tell your kids how much they have impacted your understanding of what real love is! Email a friend a note that says you’re thinking about them or praying for them. Tell your enemy that they are forgiven! Can I encourage you to do something that matters in this mistiness Called LIFE!

Life is too short to plan ahead and miss out on those things that matter today!

Grace,

LOREN