"4 For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few night hours... 12 Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom."
~Psalm 90:4&12 NLT
The problem with wishing away time like that is 20 comes too fast... 30 goes by like a whirlwind... 40 sneaks up on you way too quickly... and 50 hits you with a chilling reminder that life is just WAY too short!
In this psalm of Moses, a man of God who was very near the end of his life on this planet he writes words that I think anyone past the age of 50 can totally relate to in a couple of ways!
First, when I think of how fast life has gone by I am totally reminded of just how brief life is on this side of heaven. But the interesting thing is how God sees all that lifetime. To him it is just a like a passing hour of time! If a thousand years is like a passing day, as brief as a few nights then 50+ years is like mere minutes or hours! WOW! It's a concept that is too huge to sometimes comprehend until we understand that our God is NOT bound by time like our lives are on this world He created!
Secondly, when I think of the wisdom in my life today I often find myself reflecting on how much I wished I would have KNOWN then what I KNOW now! During moments of reflection on the past years of life I have thought this very thought on many occasions, how I wish I would have KNOWN better, or how I wish now that someone WHO knew better would have jumped in and saved me from some terrible decisions and their inevitable consequences! YES, contrary to popular belief in our culture today there are obvious and undeniable consequences to each and every one of our actions!
Which brings me to the thing that strikes me most this day as I read some of Moses' final words and that is simply this... NO WHAT? What do we do with the wisdom gained through the years? How do we take the wisdom of a life lived and still to be lived and pass it on?
Well there is one word for NOW WHAT... and that is MENTOR!
Now, there is lots of talk today about mentorship and mentoring and most of it is good stuff! But there is a danger in being a mentor and that is when you don't have one yourself! You see, this afternoon I received a "Profiles of Mennonite Faith" and the subject of this month is someone who was near and dear to me, more like a father, and that was a man of God Henry J. Schmidt. Henry was an incredible mentor, teacher, professor, and mostly friend. And as I began to read the article a tear welled up in my eyes because I have dearly missed this man since his passing all too soon in 2011. I could hardly believe it has been 6 years since I last spoke to a man who just simply knew the right things to say at just the right time as I began my journey into pastoral life. The unfortunate thing is since his passing I have had a HUGE hole in my life, ministry, and heart! Unfortunately, I have not found myself a person like Henry whose WISDOM brought clarity and focus in uncertain decisions and times.
Now, over the years since his passing I have been asked to mentor and guide many young men and women in their journeys. It has been an extreme honour and calling but the problem that arises far too often is when we don't have anyone pouring back into us we all too quickly find ourselves, our lives, and our wisdom drying up! The REALITY is we "all" need people who pour into our lives and even more so when we are the ones who are called upon to do a lot of "POURING OUT" into other people. Mentoring is a privilege but it can come at a cost IF we are not careful!
PRAYING today for God's leading for you and for me...
Rev Trev
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