Just A Vapor

It is time for my next memory verse. I pick a new verse on the 1st and the 15th of every month and man do the days roll around quickly. I feel like I just picked a verse...oh, well.

This time I am going with James 4:14 which says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."

Life seems so long doesn't it? I measure life in years and the years span ahead of me in an immeasurably length of time. But, my life is really just a vapor, like a puff of cold breath in freezing weather, compared to eternity. That is something that I know that I cannot comprehend this side of heaven.

Just a vapor...how would I live differently today if I truly believed that?

This verse makes me think of many different things. Of course, my family immediately comes to my mind. Am I intentional in showing my love for them? Love is shown by the time that I am willing to invest in the people around me. As a stay-home mom I am continually doing things FOR my family, but in my busyness, I tend to check things off my list and tell the girls I will read that book to them in just a little bit. Some days "a little bit" never comes. Reagan and Gracen do not just want me to do things for them or to just buy things for them. They want me. They want me to sit with them and do puzzles or color or read. One day, they will quit asking...one day they will be too cool for Momma. Today, I long for uninterrupted "me" time, but these days with little ones under my feet will be gone in a blink....like a vapor....here today, gone tomorrow. In just a few short years, I know that I will miss their unconditional love, their hugs, the way they climb up in my lap or simply reach for me. I wish I could grasp that concept and stop wishing the time away.

Life with little ones is hard. It is so easy to get into the habit of thinking "I'll do _____________ when they are older, when life is easier, when I have more time to myself", but in actuality, I am not promised tomorrow. I have to live my life to the fullest today.

What about Gene? Does he know how much I love him? I would like to think that answer is yes, but again, I show my love by my time. I don't always put him and his needs first. I don't always make time for the date night. I put the kids first because they scream their needs and Gene...well, he just doesn't scream. I wonder how many times he has gone to sleep feeling "second place" to the girls, when my marriage relationship should come first.

Come to think of it, in this blog entry, the paragraph about the girls, came before the paragraph about Gene....oops! I could have switched it when I realized that, but, hey...just keeping it real.

Life is a vapor! How will I be remembered after I am gone? What kind of wife was I? What kind of mother was I? What kind of Christian was I?

That last question is a big one. I am on this earth for one purpose and that purpose is to bring glory to God and to expand His kingdom. At almost 40 years old, I feel like half my life is over. That's because if I look at the average life span HALF my life IS over!!! I need to get busy...asking for boldness, looking for opportunities to share my faith, investing in people, and following God-sized dreams, stepping out in faith to what He might be calling us to do.

Certainly, I have a ministry right here inside my home. I have two girls who need to be introduced to Jesus and I take that seriously. But, I am still called to share my faith with a lost world around me. Again, it is so easy to think that I will do ____________ for Jesus when the girls are older, but I am not promised tomorrow. There are people that need Jesus today.

We all have one life to live and I need to get busy living my life TODAY, keeping in my mind that life on earth is only the dress rehearsal for eternity. I am just a vapor.

Until next time...