…as a mere breath! (republished from Sanctified Together)

 “O Lord, make me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!”
–   Psalm 39:4-5 (ESV)Pondering, I find I am fearful that I am nothing but a vapor. That I do not count. That no one notices me. That I am not making a difference in this world. Yet, it is the world that yells loudly in my ears to be, to do, to follow the crowd, to eat this or that, to act or look in certain ways; and these messages go on and on.“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14b ESV).

What is my life?  My life is a vapor, a mist, a breath. This is all the more reason to be all that God has created me to be and to do. For today I could breathe my last and utter my final word. My thoughts remind me of the victory I have with every breath according to God’s Word. I rejoice!

Seventeen years ago, I was given a new life from the Lord. As I spend time with Him, He guides me and teaches me. His Love permeates my heart. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19 ESV). His Light radiates from my face as I become more like Him. “And we all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV).

He allows me to focus on His world through His eyes. I know that each breath of mine is His. I cherish the moments with Him – seeing through His eyes and listening through His ears. I trust Him to walk with me through the brightly lit fields of spring flowers and through the harsh realities of nursing home life. We walk together and . . .

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”  ” And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me'”(Matthew 25:35-36, 40 ESV).The beauty of reflecting Christ enlarges my life. But slowing down so as not to miss an opportunity does not come easily in today’s hectic pace; yet with each breath, I will try.  This is my life…one breath. Let not my last breath come because my light has yet to shine and my love has yet to love. I pray that I may be used up for my LORD.

“I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.”
–    Psalm 104:33 (ESV)

Linda Gill is a retired school teacher and children’s librarian.  Her marriage of 16 years is Christ-centered.  They have no children.  She cares for her 96 year old mother. Linda grew up as the oldest of three girls in a Navy family.  Her father, a Navy doctor for twenty years, died at the early age of 46.  Her mother raised the girls in San Diego, CA.  Christ has been the well from which she drinks for over 16 years even though she grew up in a Christian home.  She was not introduced to the incredible power of relationship with Jesus Christ until she was 45.  She seeks the Truth and wants to be a light of God in the world in which she is placed, whether it be the workplace, the assisted living, the nursing home, church, one-on-one spiritual mentoring, tutoring children.  She loves writing these days and can be found at her blog: Being Woven where she journals her spiritual journey with Jesus.  You can also find her at Granola Bar Devotional  and Quiet Time Ministries Cafe.