One of the better things about growing older is the true ability to see the brevity of life here on earth. Yes, it’s something that all parents see as their children begin to grow, start school, graduate, etc. And, it’s a heart tug we all experience. BUT……advancing in age ourselves brings on a newer, more “real” innate sense of our own mortality. And, a more acute awareness of how grateful we should be for our lives, our families, our friends……all our experiences here as we walk this earth. Furthermore….we should walk this earth with eternity in mind.
As I advance in age (an expression that causes me to take pause in and of itself) I have an understanding of life that I wish I had as a young person……a young mama. Because, in the truest sense life is so short and so precious! If you’re a young person reading this….do you get that??? I mean really get that??? Because if there is one thing I would love to impart to every young person, every young parent…..it’s that life is a blip…..like the Bible says….it’s a vapor of air. It whirls by faster than we can really imagine as we’re struggling through challenges with raising children, working on our marriages, managing careers, etc. When we’re in our hurried state of just “living life” it’s not something that we have time to ponder. And, in many ways that’s as it should be.
However, it’s something I think would behoove everyone to stop and grasp periodically. Really grasp. Because there are so many things we waste our time on as we move through this life. SO MANY THINGS! Anyone who is older realizes this truth with so much more clarity than they did when they were younger. You might, as a young person, remind yourself of this now and then, but it’s a hard habit to break as you look around at the accomplishments of others. Isn’t it??? Even as we age those thoughts creep in. What a waste of valuable time here on earth.
Not only do we spend so much time comparing ourselves to others, our lives to others……so much angst trying to be the person we think we need to be to please or “fit in” with others that life, real living, skips right on by unappreciated. Unseen. WHAT A WASTE OF TIME! Don’t wait to grasp this truth. Understand this NOW. Be you, appreciate you, embrace the you that God created you to be. Embrace the journey He has set you on. You are valuable just as you are…..wherever you are…..whatever place you are in right now. God can use you just as you are, right where you are to contribute positivity in this world. Don’t lose your opportunity to live your best life by getting caught up in a tornado of angst about inconsequential things. And, most of it IS inconsequential Did you know that most of the angst you live with……that controls you….is literally created by you??? Your own mind.
Photo Credit: Melissa Askew
There’s a saying that goes something like this: When you’re in your twenties you worry about what people think about you, when you’re in your forties you don’t care what others think about you, when you’re in your sixties you realize nobody was thinking about you at all. I love that. Don’t waste your time worrying about what others think about you, your family, your life choices! GOD MADE YOU TO BE THE UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL YOU THAT YOU ARE! It sounds a bit trite and maybe ho-hum, because its words that you’ve heard before. But most of us totally ignore and overlook the joy in this truth. Get that, understand that, realize that as a fact of life! It’s true!
In the Bible, in the book of Jeremiah, God instructs Jeremiah, a prophet at that time, to go to a potter’s house and watch him work on creating a clay pot. He told Jeremiah he would reveal his message to him after he watched how the potter created each one. As Jeremiah watched the potter create the pot he saw that when it became marred the potter simply continued working on it reshaping it into another pot that he was pleased with. Then the Lord revealed to Jeremiah that just as the pot was in the potter’s hand (to reshape into a new beautiful vessel) so he would do with his people. Friends……we are the clay in the potter’s hands. He is molding us, growing us and shaping us into the vessels he wants us to be.
PHOTO CREDIT: AUSTIN SCHID VIA UNSPLASH
But, here’s the kicker……you can embrace this…..who you are, who you are becoming in the Lord’s eyes or you can fight it. Instead of appreciating the beauty of the potter’s creation – the unique and beautiful you – you can be blind to it. Blind to your own beauty, your own qualities, your own blessings. Painfully aware and affected by what you deem to be your own imperfections. And, completely and utterly blind to who God is creating you to be. Please don’t be that person! Please don’t waste valuable time here on this earth not valuing who and what you are. You’ll never reach your true potential if you do! Just like the potter creating a thing of beauty from a marred, imperfect piece of clay….God can and will do the same with us. No matter our background and the road we’ve traveled….we’ve got potential beyond our wildest imagination. And, like Rick Warren says….I can’t think of anything worse than getting to heaven and finding out I never reached my true potential here on earth….that I missed what I was capable of being and accomplishing.
I’m an enneagram nine. At this point in my life I’m a healthy nine. A healthy nine can mimic an enneagram three as far as their confidence, success, productivity, etc. But, an unhealthy nine can struggle with their own self-worth, their own self-value and significance. While I am and have always been a relatively happy, even keeled person……I’ve experienced those negative feelings at different times throughout my life and they are something I’ve worked on literally my entire life. Even before I knew what the enneagram was, I have always been innately pro-active about self-reflection, self-awareness and self-growth. Even as a teenager and oddly, in some ways, even as a child. For real……even as an elementary age child. Self-growth and self-improvement is something I’ve worked on my entire life.
When I was in high school my three best friends were three of the most beautiful girls in the entire school. My senior year they were each nominated and/or voted most beautiful, class favorite, homecoming queen and prom queen. Not me. I was their plain Jane friend along for the ride. And I felt it. And, although I felt it – I also felt immensely grateful and privileged to be their friend and I loved them. (I still keep in touch with two of them today.) However, many times in those days I had to take the time to reflect on my own value as a human being despite the fact that I wasn’t as “pretty” as my friends. It wasn’t until my ten year class reunion that I was the one voted “Most Beautiful” by my classmates. My one and only claim to fame in life. LOL. But, here’s the thing….my value didn’t increase when that happened. I was still the same person I was when I was the 17 year old who didn’t get any recognition by my peers when my friends did. God still loved me as much as he did my beautiful friends and he was still shaping me into the best me that I could be. He had (and has) me on the unique path He’s deemed best for me. Who am I to argue with that? I’m the clay in the potter’s hands, just as you are, and our paths as we walk this earth are our own. Selected for us and nobody else. And, while it seems others have an easier go of it than we do at times…..they’re prettier, smarter, more successful, wealthier, more happily married…..we are the clay in our potter’s hands. In our creators’ hands. Let us appreciate how he’s molding us into the beautiful vessels we are and are to become. And, let us not waste away time on unimportant, trivial things. Let us not allow our thoughts to be consumed with unnecessary angst that we bring upon ourselves.
Here are two examples of people I know who wasted precious time here on earth on inconsequential things:
The first is a friend of mine in the interior design world. She was a very talented, successful designer, but was literally consumed with feelings of insecurity and jealousy of other designers in our circle of friends in the Interior Design Society. She constantly compared herself to others, was very catty and critical of others, felt a need to gossip about others to make herself feel better. She was the type that constantly managed to stir up strife and angst among the group by her pettiness. And then, one day, out of the blue, she was killed in a shooting accident. Just like that. One day she was here, the next day gone. And with her…..all the wasted time she spent worrying, comparing, being jealous and envious of others. All of it…..gone. All of that precious time never to be gotten back again. So much time she could have spent happy, content on her own path, enjoying life and the people around her! That was something that really struck me at the time. All that negativity…..all that wasted time. And for what?
The second is a man who was the brother of a good friend of mine. As he aged he became consumed with money, taking over his father’s company, and convincing himself he and his family were more worthy of his father’s money and inheritance than his siblings. Every spare moment he had was consumed with trying to manipulate his father’s extraordinary wealth for himself. It swallowed him up and drove him into erratic, self-centered behavior that splintered his relationships with his family, upset his mother and finally drove him to a heart attack. And just like that he was gone. Dead. Along with years and years of wasted time on this earth worrying and stressing over getting the most out of his father’s wealth. And, for what? Now his life is over and the angst and stress he created for so many was utterly unnecessary and a complete waste of valuable time on the earth. How much precious time he wasted on something so unnecessary….and in the end……it did him no good at all. This struck me deeply as well.
Life is precious. Life is short. Don’t forget to take time to just be happy. And grateful. We find so many ways to overlook the blessings and create unnecessary stress……stress of our own doing. And, then like that vapor of air God refers to in His word….life here on earth is gone.
I’m still working on myself and always will….my self-growth, my self-reflection, my self-appreciation and my value. At my age I don’t know how many years I have left on this earth. To take that a step further I don’t know how many “good” years I have left on this earth to enjoy. But, I can tell you this: I sure don’t want the rest of my walk here to be consumed with negativity……especially of my own doing. Created in my own head. I’m the clay in my potter’s hands…..I want to be the vessel He is molding and shaping me to be. I want to realize and understand the brevity of life and the importance of utilizing my time wisely. Positively. I want to spend my remaining years serving the Lord and being as He would have me be, doing as He would have me do. As Katherine Mansfield said long ago, “Lord let me crystal clear for thy light to shine through”.
My deepest prayer and wish is for every woman out there, young and old, to grasp this monumental truth. Be the clay in the potter’s hands……let him mold and shape you into the woman He created you to be. Embrace the you God created you to be and live life to your fullest potential. You, my friend, are “fearfully and wonderfully made”. Take a minute to realize that amazing truth.