Hourglass analogy of life an accurate reflection

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I celebrated a milestone birthday. I can now say "I'm in my sixties!" Where did the time go? What have I done with my life?

It seems like not long ago I received my diploma at Eldorado High School. How could that have been 42 years ago? I guess it is true. Like sand through an hour glass, so goes the days of our lives.

The hour glass analogy is very accurate. From the time of our birth, we have so many grains of sand representing our life. If you notice, when the top of the hour glass is full, it seems that the sand moves very slowly. I can remember when I would be dismissed from school for summer break. It seemed that summer was endless. It took what seemed to be forever before August rolled around again and I had to worry about heading back to school.

Now, it seems the grains of sand are flowing more quickly. The years seem to fly by. Didn't we just make it through 2020? Here we are now in October, and 2021 is three-quarters of the way finished. Christmas is just over two months away! How close are you to having finished your gift-buying?

With time moving so rapidly, what should our attitude be about the days that God has gifted us? Psalm 118:24 gives us the answer: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Most people consider Sunday to be the Lord's Day. I believe, however, every day is the Lord's Day because He is the one who determines how many days we will have. Every day that we awaken is a gift that God has granted us. How are you going to use this precious gift?

Unfortunately, we often take today for granted. Sometimes we schedule so many activities that we get all stressed out. As a result, we forget to rejoice. We need to remember that it is only by the grace of God that we have today. Instead of stressing, we should be rejoicing. As I turned 60 years old, I counted that God has gifted me 21,900 days plus a few extra days for leap year. He has allowed me to breathe for some 525,600 hours. If God is keeping track in Heaven, I wonder how many of those hours He has seen me rejoicing. I hate to admit it, but He has probably seen me spend more time complaining, fussing and fuming! I'm going to make every effort to improve on that ratio in my next 60 years.

Time is a valuable commodity. We can always make more money, but we cannot make more time. Job 14:5 says, "You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer." We shouldn't take today for granted. We shouldn't assume we will be on this Earth tomorrow. We also shouldn't waste today worrying about what may or may not happen in the future.

Matthew 6:34 says, "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." The good news is that God will give us the strength we need for today. He did not say He was going to give us the strength today for what we will see in the next year.

I thank God for today. I choose to rejoice that God has allowed me to be in my sixties.

• Ernie Fowler is associate pastor at Pankeyville Baptist Church in Harrisburg.