Thinking Out Loud, Volume DV

Some of you have lost your marbles. All of them. In fact, I'm getting pretty close myself. If you're under the age of forty, this will likely not impact you the way it will us from the older generation. Please allow me to explain what I'm talking about. As always, I had to be in Dallas the weekend when it was Vision Sunday at our church, so I was watching on line as our pastor was delivering the Vision Sunday sermon. The part that stopped me in my tracks and jolted some reality into my brain was when he referred to Psalms 90:10 that says: "Seventy years are given to us. Some even live to eighty....." He then used the illustration that if we had been given a jar with seventy marbles when we were born, and we take a marble out each year, how many marbles do we have left in our jar? I would have six. SIX!?!?! Yep, I've about lost my marbles too. Even if I'm one of those who by "reason of strength" can make it to eighty, then there's still only sixteen marbles left in my jar. I'm a pretty average guy, so with this in mind, let's take a look at the averages. The average life span in the U.S. for a man is seventy-six years and for a woman it's eighty-one, which would leave me with twelve marbles. Twelve years!! How many do you have? What are we gonna do with the marbles we have left? First of all, it's entirely possible I could leave while I still have some marbles in my jar, so my most important duty is to make sure I've made the proper preparations to have "my house in order" for when that day comes. Just be ready for that day whenever it is. Once I've done that, I have two choices as to how to spend those years. I can spend these next twelve years dreading when that inevitable day arrives, or I can put a smile on my face and choose to make the days I have left happy ones. I can deprive myself of the joys of life or I can make the best of what I have left. I choose the latter, but what does "making the best" mean? Keeping in mind that going crazy and failing to use wisdom in my choices will not bring me a happy life, I will refuse to live a life of deprivation or denying myself the things I love. I will enjoy an occasional bowl of ice cream. In fact, I might even eat a donut from time to time. If I see something I want, and can afford it, I will buy it. I will love my wife, my kids, and their kids with more fervency than ever before. I will accept the fact that not everyone will like me or say nice things about me, wiping those negative thoughts out of my mind, focusing only on the good. I will cherish the friends I do have, and do my best to make them happy and proud to be called my friends. I will park myself in my recliner only when my health forces me to do so. I will keep running as long as possible, then walk when the running days are over. I will be more charitable to the less fortunate. I will be more tolerant as the fads and trends of the day change with the younger generation, remembering how they did the same when I was young. I will not hate those whose political views are different from mine. In short, I hope to use up the remainder of my years in such a way that the only difficulty the preacher who delivers my eulogy will face is his sadness at seeing me go, while finding good things to say about me will be the easiest job he's ever had. The marbles I have left are extremely valuable, and I will treat them as such! Preston