A Year of Being Kind blog – Saturday, November 15, 2014
Autumn leaves
New York Botanical Garden
Take Inventory. Number our Days. Be of Service.
November. The year is winding down. Autumn of the year. With harvest time and thanksgiving, the growing season coming to an end, this can also be a time for quiet, introspection, and contemplation.
I read Psalm 90 recently. This reading from Psalm 90, verse 12, spoke to my heart. It seems even more appropriate today, as I think about the autumn of one of our older friend’s lives. A dear man, this wonderful, gracious, gentle soul always had a kind word for everyone. Who was so often able to turn a tentative or tense situation into a humorous one with his sparkling sense of timing and humor. This dear senior certainly walked closely with God, in the autumn season of his life, and all through, too.
I will remind us all of verse 12: “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.” Practical advice, from this practical psalm. This psalm is the only psalm attributed to Moses, that great man of faith. Moses was a particularly nuts-and-bolts kind of guy, and it is fitting that the only psalm—or song—we have from him is an intensely practical one.
Ever have a bad day? A bad week? What about a bad year? Sometimes, that is what life brings our way. Sometimes, a bad day turns into an even worse season. Moses knew about times like that. Sure, Moses started life with a silver spoon in his mouth. Adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he had it made. For a while. Then, there was a change of direction. Talk about downward mobility. In Moses’ life, things did not go well—for years and years. And that was before he met God at the burning bush.
Yet, God was there.
God walked with him, right by his side, all the way. Through his difficult times, through the times when Moses felt he was all washed up. God did not leave him or forsake him.
What about today?
What about certain people you and I know, who find themselves at a difficult point in their lives? Health reversals. Unemployment. Loss of loved ones on whom we deeply depend. What happens then? Is God distant, or uncaring? There are some words in this psalm that could lead me to think so.
When I talk with individuals today, sometimes these people tell me about their rough times. How much of a challenge it is, even to get up out of bed in the morning. To continue, one more day, walking through chemotherapy. Sitting by a loved one’s side in an extended care center. Counting pennies, counting the days, waiting for that next unemployment check.
Remember, Moses was very practical, and I urge everyone to remember the words that reach out to others. As this psalm takes a final turn, we come across the words “Teach us to number our days.” Just as my dear senior friend did. Sometimes, in the painful, lonely autumn of some lives. Take stock. Take inventory. Take a step back.
I know I need a time of introspection sometimes, in order to be able to reach out and to serve.
What about you? Please, God, help us all to be introspective, to number our days, and to serve You.
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A Year of Being Kind 