Life in the Vapor

“What is your life? It is just a vapor, appearing for a little while, and then vanishing. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” James 4:14

I am so grateful for the many authors who filled their calendars with their gifts of writing Bible studies. Their studies are spiritual binoculars that help me focus on Scripture and apply new visions to old patterns. This morning I was challenged with one laser-sharp exercise. The challenge was to look at both my calendar and my receipts to examine where my heart is anchored…to consider ‘what is my life?’ We have a limited time on this earth which has been ordained since God’s hands formed us. We will not outlive one second beyond His will. When we take our last breath, someone will have to look at our calendars to see things that must be canceled. Someone will have to go into our homes and go through our things. What will have to be canceled on our calendar? What will our homes and purchases reflect? Interesting, isn’t it?

What will others see when we have vanished? Our homes, calendars and receipts speak what the priorities are in our lives. What have we spent our money and our time on while walking out our days? ‘No matter how we attempt to excuse it, spin it, or dress it up, our calendars will always call out our priorities.’ Just Open the Door, Jen Schmidt, p 94. The calendar of Jesus is an open book...the Bible marks His days during His ‘little while’ on earth. Based on Scripture we know that there was a great amount of time serving…applying His gift… pointing to the Father. He shared time with saints and sinners...paupers, princes and misfits. He left space for prayerful solitude with God. His calendar would have boasted invitation instead of discrimination…conversation instead of isolation. He made it clear that His treasure and His heart were aligned with God’s will and purpose for His life. He left plenty of margin in His calendar to walk out what God placed before Him.

Margin… ‘it is the antidote to our overwhelmed souls. It’s that space that exists between our normal load and our outer limits. Margin is our breathing room. It’s the place where our souls camp between the weary and worn out, where we rest and connect with our Creator.’ Just Open the Door, p 96.

So, I ask this morning… ‘What is your life?’ Have you left space and margin in your calendar for God’s work? Do your receipts show sharing your resources with those who need it? I want to be better at this…I want to examine each day looking through the scope of my calendar asking myself ‘What is my life today?’ That is where it begins… and that is where it will end…a calendar...a vapor…a willing heart.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Colossians 3:17