Our theme for this month: “You Gotta Keep Dancing”
Our Bible verse for today: “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring – what your life will be! For you are like a vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” James 4:13-14 (CSB)
Our thought for today: “Don’t keep putting it off.”
Sue was a healthy and active middle-aged woman. Now that the kids were grown and out on their own, she and Bob had big plans for this new season in their lives. They loved to laugh and joke about the television commercial that was running back then. It showed a smirking young man looking at his parents and he says “Well Mom and Dad, now that I’m moving out are you going to miss me? What are you going to do?” In reply the parents looked at each other and smiled a mischievous smile, then they looked back at the son and the mom said “We’re going to Disneyland!”
But it didn’t turn out that way. Out of the blue Sue was diagnosed with stage-four cancer and she was gone in less than six months. Now, a month after the funeral, Bob was sorting through Sue’s things and he came across a box from a high-end dress shop. It contained a stylish and slinky dress that Sue had never worn. Bob remembered when she came home from the store with it. He had slyly asked, “Well, when am I going to get to see that on you?” Sue grinned and said “It’s for a special occasion.” But sadly that special occasion never arrived. Sue never wore the dress for Bob.
In James 4:13-14 James reminds us that we don’t know what tomorrow may bring – or if there will even be a tomorrow for us. Life is fragile. There’s a thin line between life and death, and none of us knows what tomorrow might bring for us – or if there will even be a tomorrow. So we need to live life now. Yes we do need to plan for the future, but we also need to live in the present. Too many of us put off joy for tomorrow as we struggle with the issues of today.
In yesterday’s devotional message I encouraged you to slow down and savor the simple things in life. We do need to do that. But we also need to do special things with special people now, while we still can. Don’t keep putting those things off for another time. There may not be another time.
I encourage you to wear the special dress. Go on that trip. Embark on the adventure. Make the phone call. Eat the ice cream. Check something off of your “bucket list”. Don’t keep putting it off.
Oak Hill Baptist Church