Time on Earth is Small

Remember your Creator before the silver cord is loosed, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the well. Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

We can think of our lives and what has happened in them. They removed the irrigation ditch so there would be no more swimming at our farmhouse. It made me sad because as children it took us five minutes to walk out for a swim. Three of the four of us children had our spouses walk away from us. We had despair as our marriages were shattered and broken. The world has different trials now than in the Ecclesiastes verse. As children we didn’t know a divorced person.

My brother had cancer but told us he accepted Jesus as his savior not long before he died so we know his spirit has returned to God as the Ecclesiastes verse says. Over our travails the other three of us have accepted Jesus as our Lord, and our Creator.

Rev. Paul Stallsworth, Lifewatch (United Methodist Church), reflected on this verse in my “40 Days For Life” Devotional Guide. There is no date on the pamphlet, just 40 days of Devotions. I have been getting these for many years and never realized the authors do not put a date anywhere on the brochure, probably to let us know their writing is for all times. His reflection is:

God is the giver of all life. Short lived or long lived, human lives are lived out in this world. The metaphors for death are many. But their meaning is clear and singular: All will die. Even so, death is not the absolute end. It is not the end of the story. For as certainly as God gave life, at death the life or spirit that God gave returns to God. By God, we are created. For God, we live our given days. To God, we return at the end of our earthly days. And with God, we live through eternity.

We can fear death, we can be sad when it happens, but we can also be sure our time will come. Some people do not live to grow up and some live past 100 years. It is so comforting to me that our spirit will return to God who gave it.

Prayer: Dear Father in Heaven, your Word is so comforting to us. We can know that you created us, we live our lives throughout the years, experience good and bad things, but you are with us, and you will take us to your eternity in heaven. Thank you, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sandra Hilsabeck