Remember him

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” (Ecclesiastes 12:1 NLT)

Remember him - this whole chapter is riddled with those two words. Before our eyes fail, our legs become wobbly, or our hair fades to grey - remember him. While there is yet time, remember him. We might need that reminder this morning - to take time out of the busy day we have ahead and just remember his goodness, grace, and love. That should spark a note of gratitude from deep within our souls, bringing praise to our lips and worship from our spirit.

The excitement of youth might just be the things that come into our days, filling them to capacity and sometimes beyond it. We make plans, set out to execute them, taken on more plans, and set things in motion to see those through. All the while, we forgot to take time to execute the most important plan of our day - remembering him. In this moment, if that is you, just rest for a moment and consider who he is. What has he done in your life that brings notes of gratitude to your lips? 

Honor him with your gratitude but also be very aware of what dishonors him! Empty words of praise are not honoring to him. Teensy weenie moments carved out of our days might be all we think we can afford to give to him, but I guarantee you that when we carve out just a bit more time each day for him, we manage to accomplish way more than we did when we had that cram-packed-full schedule!

It is possible to drift into a pattern of taking only a small amount of time with him but not even give him our full attention when we do. The amount of time isn't what is important - it is that we engage if this process of remembering him. As I stop to think of my parents, the lives they lived, the memories we made throughout our lives together, I am actually honoring them in my heart. Should it be any different with the one who has redeemed my heart, making it whole and removing everything from it that only brought me harm?

The urgency of life can get in the way of our time with him more than we might realize. It destroys our focus and takes away from our consistency. It isn't the amount of time as much as it is the consistency of it. In those moments, shutting out the distractions is ever so important. When we finally settle into the peace of his presence, our day's agenda suddenly seems less and less urgent. It may take some doing to actually shut out those things that present themselves as 'urgent' but I know when we do, we will find the time we take remembering him will never be wasted. Just sayin!