Life is fragile.
In the last couple of days, the grown-up son of a church friend had a serious car accident. His car left the carriageway in bad weather, and he drove into a tree. He’s alive, by the grace of God, but only just. The road to recovery is going to be a long one, and whatever the future holds for him, you can be certain it’s not what he or his family were expecting.
Why do I mention this?
Simply this: we do not know what lies around the corner.
We might be filled with exciting dreams of destiny and influence, but the simple truth is that none of us knows what might befall us in the next twenty-four hours. It doesn’t matter what an amazing man or woman of God you are, how much you’ve given up for the kingdom, or how big you can dream; the fact is that any one of us could, in the blink of an eye, find ourselves hanging in the balance between life and death, between a future that seemed so sure and one that is anything but certain.
And thus it seems to me that we should be thankful for each moment that is given to us to enjoy. And that, when we dare to speak of the future, we should do so with humility.
We like to think we are masters of our own destiny. But this is nothing more than vanity and grasping for the wind.
Given how little we actually know and how little we really control, it seems to me we need a whole lot less arrogance and a whole lot more humility.
Let the wise hear.
[ Image: ilco ]
