WHO'S COUNTING?

WHO'S COUNTING?
Saturday, June 20, 2020 by Leona Choy

Among the gifts I received on a previous birthday is one I'm still using without regard that it's out-of-date. The creatively personalized mug pictured here is from a special friend. The inscription declares “33,237 days old” calculating my age at 91 when she gave it to me.

It reminds me of the verse, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Translations of that verse vary somewhat. The word “number” is sometimes translated “count” our days. The mug inscription then adds the question, “But who's counting?”

I knew there must be some gold to mine if I tried to unpack the answer to that question more carefully and biblically. Who is supposed to do the counting in the context of that verse? “Teach us.” Who is the Psalmist (this happens to be a Psalm written by Moses) addressing?

The entire Psalm is a prayer to God. Apparently we have to learn to do this numbering or counting carefully and with knowledge if we want a wise heart. However, we don't seem to have all the facts. We don't know the number of our days, so how can we know if “our number is up”? Their number is known only to God—and He has decided it is better for us not to know.

Jesus did let us know our limitations: by being anxious, we can't add even another day to our life span. It's out of our control. The exact number is already settled. We can't “count on” many days, many years. In fact, we can't count on having any tomorrow. (James 4:13-15)

The result of knowing how to count right is that we will be wise in how we spend our lives in view of the “brevity of life” and in order to “appreciate the shortness of our days,” according to some translations. James 4:14 poses the question, "What is your life? You are a mist (vapor) that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

If I need another reminder, Isaiah 40:6 and 7 declares, "All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it. Surely the people are grass." First Peter 1:24 echoes the grass metaphor. When we finally arrive in Heaven, we will most likely be surprised by many things, but nothing will amaze us more than how short life on earth really was.

When I was young, I mistakenly viewed my days as stretching endlessly. They seemed almost infinite and so, I reasoned, there wasn't any need to number them or to think about them ending. Many of my days seemed trivial, mundane, ordinary, and meaningless. Now, as the days, years and decades have come and gone, I have begun to gain in wisdom and to lean harder on God to teach me the value of each day, to consider each day separate from the next, distinct in its purpose, unique and significant in the way I should live it.

David startles me in Psalm 139:16-18 by declaring that in God's Book “the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them, were all written.” And that the sum of God's thoughts about them were vast “if I should count them....” What an awesome thought! Well then, I will leave the counting up to God.

Anyway, God has a different vantage point. He said that each day, this very day, is like a thousand years in His eternal perspective. I can't seem to wrap my mind around that mysterious concept. I do understand this basic truth: if I am “in Christ” my days will never end for my eternal, God-given spirit even if I put a dozen zeros after the current number!

Could this imply that God is so intensely interested in my days that He pays attention to my encounters with people, my emails, my conversations, my prayers, my deeds? Each of my days counts with Him then! Lord, does it mean that You have recorded this very day of mine in Your Book of Life and given it a number? And that I will be held accountable for what I have done with it?

My friend's porcelain gift can speak! What does it say? It tells me that—now that I am 95--each of the past 34,675 days in the past has counted with God. I guess that would have to include about 180 days quarantined so far with this pandemic adventure. Surely those days were also ordained by the Lord too and counted in His big plan.

Moreover, that each of my remaining days counts. Each day comes to me fresh from God's loving, generous heart. I can count on the Lord to be always available to teach me how I should live with a wise heart to present back to Him.

My life is God's gift to me. What I do with the days of my life is my gift to God.

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Comments

Roger Warda From Macomb Township MI At 6/24/2020 3:29:31 PM

Happy Birthday Leona. I will pray this will be a pleasant and memorable day for you, and for the many years you will enjoy in the future. God bless, Roger.

Reply by: Leona Choy

Thank you Roger for your wishes and blessing. You are one of my special "people-as-yet-unmet-personally" but nevertheless bonded closely with in spirit. Look for some special blessing of energy that you need for some task that you have before you today. Keep your joy in the Lord.

Jennifer From New Jersey At 6/22/2020 6:13:26 PM

Dear Leona again, I ran out of characters so am adding Happy Happy 95th Birthday! What a milestone you have reached!! And, what an amazing life you have led! And, continue to lead! Wishing you blessings of joy, love and strength for the days to come!

Reply by: Leona Choy

A great chat we had on our MUTUAL BIRTH-DATE...but 20 years difference!Loved it.

Chris Tupper From Redding, CA At 6/22/2020 5:05:45 PM

Wishing you a very Happy Birthday, Leona! So thankful for you and your insight to help us through our lives. I printed this out and especially like "learning the value of each day and to consider each day separate from the next." Wishing you a contented and healthy year ahead. With love and prayers

Reply by: Leona Choy

Thank you! I've written you separately. You did double up on your comment.

Chris Tupper From Redding, CA At 6/22/2020 5:05:44 PM

Reply by: Leona Choy

This is a duplicate...

Mary Ellen From Birmingham At 6/22/2020 3:10:47 PM

Love this! Happy Birthday?? ??????????

Reply by: Leona Choy

Thank you for your birthday greetings. Yup, 95 is a milestone, I'm abundantly blessed!

Jennifer From New Jersey At 6/22/2020 9:44:52 AM

Dear Lesa, such a wonderful post and A welcome reminder that God is at the root of the people we encounter and our conversations. It reminds me too that nothing in life is for naught even if we don’t see our days as being counted for God and His kingdom, he is preparing us for His use.

Reply by: Leona Choy

(You meant Leona,right?)Yes, let's let the Lord do the counting as we keep living for Him. I'M SO, SO PROUD OF WHAT YOU'VE WRITTEN! GOOD JOB, PROFESSIONAL AS ALWAYS. I plan to call you tomorrow after the celebrations calm down. LOVE to my Birthday Buddy on your 75th!

Linda winand From At 6/21/2020 7:45:03 AM

Good morning Leona. I just want to thank you for your wonderful words of great wisdom and insight. I have been so encouraged by your books on widowhood and now today just when needed a friend sent me this post. GOD BLESS YOU FOR LETTING GOD SPEAK THROUGH YOU TO HELP SO MANY OF US. Thanks be to GOD

Reply by: Leona Choy

Dear Linda, thanks for your kind words. Be sure and become a free subscriber on your own, and then no one will have to send you the posts. Right at the top of my HOME PAGE on the website.God bless you in your singleness--His grace is sufficient for all of us in our weakness and aloneness.

Heiko From Netherlands At 6/21/2020 7:05:58 AM

AMEN !!!!!

Reply by: Leona Choy

Thank you, my Netherlands friend! I'm going to email you separately. I appreciate your Birthday greetings--yes, it's my 95th, incredible as it seems. I'm truly BLESSED!

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