Fri Oct 25-Wise Hearts

Psalms 90:12 (CEB)

12 Teach us to number our days
    so we can have a wise heart.


Reflection

This weekend I was at the Caregiver Renewal Retreat held at our church. Our retreat leader, Rev. Shawn Callender Hogan, set up a series of prayer stations where we could pause for reflection on where we are in our caregiver journey. One prayer station caught my attention because it was about time. It had 3 large hourglasses filled with sand and when you turned them over, the sand began pouring into the bottom of the glass as it marked the passage of time. The sign at this prayer station asked us three questions:

On your journey, what is it not yet time for?
What is it no longer time for?
What is now the time for?

And whether you consider yourself a caregiver, or not, these are great questions to ask yourself about where you are on your journey with God.

Today’s scripture definitely answers the question, “What is now the time for?” because we have no time to waste. The writer of psalm 90 may be pointing out the obvious, that God is eternal, but as humans, our days on earth are numbered. Throughout time God has been proven to be loving, faithful and merciful to us, in spite of the fact that humanity has proven to have failed to love or trust God while we have treated each other with violence and contempt.

But the psalmist is also pointing out what isn’t so obvious, the fact that while we’re here, we’re to cultivate “wise hearts.” How do we get “wise hearts?” Proverbs 9:10a says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” So the only way we can become wise is to have reverential love for God. This reverential love comes to us by living a life in relationship with God. As we
grow in God’s grace we come to understand that our lives, our salvation, our hope comes from the Lord. As humans we like to think we’re the one’s in charge of our lives, that we’ve ’got this’ and we only need God in a crisis. The reality is that we have been redeemed by God’s grace through Jesus and our lives are no longer our own. As children of God, we are transformed by the Spirit to have “wise hearts.” We are able to make each day count, loving God and loving others, living a life of purpose in the eternal Kin-dom of God.

by Jeneene Reduker


For Pondering and Prayer

On your spiritual journey, is now the time for you to make your days count, loving God and loving others? Ask God to give you a wise heart to better love God and others.

Prayer: Holy and Compassionate God, teach us to make each day count for you. By your Spirit, cultivate in us wise hearts so that we can better serve you and others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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