Life

Today in church a young couple announced that they had got engaged. I was pleased for them and clapped and cheered along with everyone else at the news. Afterwards I got to thinking about how fascinating life is.

We never know what each day is going to bring. In February of last year this couple didn't know the other existed. They were both getting on with their lives and doing their thing, never dreaming that in August of that year their paths would cross and their lives would be forever changed. On the morning of the day they first met, it no doubt seemed to them to be a day like any other. They got up as they normally did, showered, dressed and went about their daily lives, not realising that day was very different indeed; it was a day like no other for on that day they would meet the one they would spend the rest of their lives with.

I recall in August or October of last year I was at a lunch with the young lady in question. She told me that she was helping plan her younger sister's wedding. She was happy but sad at the changes that would bring into their lives. She is very close to her sister and the thought of that relationship changing was difficult for her to digest, not realising that in 5 or 6 months time she would be planning her own wedding and would be moving to Italy!

Each day is brimming with endless possibilities and life changing experiences. That is why January 1st is my favourite day of the whole year. The year stretches ahead of us like a blank canvas waiting for our daily lives to draw a picture on it. It reminds me of when snow would fall overnight and there wouldn’t be a single mark or foot print on the fresh white powder, it was untouched. We have absolutely no idea what to expect from each day. In some ways that is terrifying, in other ways it’s electrifying. We have eleven month’s worth of opportunities and experiences waiting for us. Isn’t that great!

That notwithstanding though, I have come to realise that life isn’t something that happens to you; we have a huge hand in shaping the type of lives that we end up living. My attitude previously was to sit back and expect things to come to me. But I know now that I have to get up and invest my life in a variety of different ways in order to reap a return/harvest. Harvest time will only come for those farmers who sowed seed in the first place. The farmer who doesn’t sow seed doesn’t go out expecting to see anything growing in his fields. There are four main investments I plan to make this year:

1) In my relationship with God by applying the teachings of the bible to my life and spending more time asking God to help me understand who He really is, not who I think He is.
2) In people; I want to spend more time building relationships of all types.
3) In my writing.
4)In myself.

I know that as I diligently and consistently ‘sow’ this seed, I will be amazed at the ‘harvest’ I reap! How exciting!