It’s been years since seventeen-year-old Joseph died. Life is brief, whether we live seventeen years or to a ripe old age. Just ask anyone in their 80s or 90s.
For several years after burying my son, I desperately wanted to die. But God had other plans. He needs me here. And so I ask Him what He has for me to learn, what He wants me to know, and what He wants me to do. And I ask Him to speak loud and clear, knowing I am bent towards my plans, not His.
The same reply comes back nearly every time: Life is brief. Savor the moment. Forget your bucket list and throw away your wish list. It’s not about vacations, frills, or thrills. It’s about Me. Live life well. Reach for Me. Know Me. Tell others about Me. Delight in Me. I’ve given you instructions and examples of how to do this in My Word. Dig in deep and become rich, Shelley. Live. Life. Well. Any moment could be your last. Until I call you home, experience Me deeply. Right. Where. You. Are. Until I call you home, love My people—right where they are.
Lord,
I am desperate for You. With each day that passes, I grow acutely aware that this isn’t home. You are home. And I am homesick. But I don’t want to be so heavenly bound that I am no earthly good. I don’t want to miss what You’re calling me to do. I want to know my purpose. Living life well is foreign to me—it goes against my very nature.
Help me, Lord, to find your purpose for me every day. Help me to live life well. Use my grief. Use my strengths and weaknesses. Use my successes and my failures. Use my health and my ailments. Use my family. Use all of me.
Amen.