Job 14:1 “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble, 2 comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow and does not last.”

Job continues his lament to God after having suffered horrible grief and loss. This verse really got my attention this morning. I agree with Job here, not with his sense of despair but in his awareness of the brevity of human life.

It was some time in my 40s when a shift happened in my thinking. Up to that point I had always been looking ahead. The present wasn’t as much to be enjoyed as to be endured for the sake of something better around the next corner. It’s the thinking of a younger man, I believe. Always waiting for real life to begin.

But then my oldest child Victoria graduated high school (pictured above as a HS senior) and – bam! It was a wonderful, but jarring moment for me. A “kairos” for sure. Some of you will know what I mean by that. Anyway, it was then I realized that life was passing me by very quickly. I mean, I actually had a kid graduating high school! Where had all the time gone?!

“A mortal, born of woman, few of days… comes up like a flower and withers, flees like a shadow…”

These days I’m trying to be present in the now. I want time to slow down a bit. I want to enjoy my days while I still have them. Lord Jesus let it be so. Amen.