49 days ago, I (and possibly, you) made New Year’s resolutions, which
statistically have not been kept.
In January, I read a book called Who Put My Life on Fast Forward by Phil
Callaway. Calloway humorously puts things into perspective about enjoying the here and now because all too soon, it becomes yesterday. This is not a new idea. In Exodus 20, from God’s Ten Commandments given to Moses:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Calloway makes a statement that the fourth commandment is the only one that begins with the word, ‘remember’. Perhaps God did this because of man’s tendency to forget. My New Year’s resolution this year was to slow down and
remember this year, because when Christmas rolls around (in 309 days), I always wonder where the year went! One way to “slow down” is to remember the Sabbath. God gave me this day to reflect upon Him, reflect upon my past week and remember my many blessings.
Many of us are already half way through out lives here on earth. How do I want to be remembered when I am gone? Since I do not have children of my own, my “legacy” will be carried on by my nieces and nephews and the students I work with at school. To that end, I pray this prayer that Phil Callaway wrote:
“Heavenly Father, Protect me from the distractions of a noisy culture, that I may hear your voice—and listen. Keep me from giving too much of my time to those who won’t cry at my funeral! Grant me wisdom to separate the insignificant from the eternal opportunities that intersect my path a hundred times each day. Restore my body with your rest, season my words with your grace. Free me from the sin of comparison, the trap of equating popularity with value. May the days I have left be lived at your pace, as I greet the success of others with joy, their pain with compassion, their failures with grace. And in the end, may I be remembered by only a few who saw You reflected in me. Amen.”
Linda Kawakami
Director Educational Services
Callaway, Phil. Who Put My Life on Fast-Forward: How to Slow Down and Start Living Again. Harvest House: Eugene, 2002