Stewardship: Your Life a Year
What if one lifetime were like one year? Moses said in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Here’s an idea: plan your life like you plan your year. All of us prepare for the seasons of the year. (If you don’t believe me, check the mall parking lots.) All of us know how to plan for New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We understand the “rhythms of the seasons.” Now let’s see if we can look at our passing years the way we look at the passing seasons. If my math is right, every five days would represent one year (using Moses’ “average life span” in Psalm 90:10).
So, what if your lifetime were like one year? The day you were born—Happy New Year! It’s the start of a brand new life and a brand new year. What a wonderful season! Your whole life and your whole year are before you!
At nine years old, you would find yourself at Valentine’s Day. It’s still too early for spring, but things are beginning to change. Valentine’s Day introduces you to love and not just the mom-and-dad kind. When you discover “this” kind of love, everything begins to change!
You would be “sweet 16” on St. Patrick’s Day … and not a moment too soon either! This “green” day reminds you of the greening of spring. In this season of “spring cleaning,” you must sort out the treasure from the trash. At 16, you are choosing between good and garbage— constantly. Your choices in “spring cleaning,” stay with you all year long, and that’s just like life. You need the Lord’s help to know trash from treasure.
At 18, you’re late in March and ready to march. Congratulations! High school is behind you, the world lies at your feet. Spring is in full swing! It’s a time to plan your planting. So much of the rest of your “life year” will be formed by the choices you make here. It’s time to ask the Lord for wisdom.
Age 22? You‘re in the Easter season and already making some very adult decisions. As the flowers bloom and the weather warms, you see bright new horizons ahead of you. Already you have seen the results of those trash/treasure decisions and those “sowing and reaping” choices. As you plan out vacations and holidays, you begin to realize that the course of your “life year” is pretty well set. How you “applied your heart to wisdom” has made all the difference.
When you’re 27, you would be celebrating Mother’s Day, and by Memorial Day you would be “over the hill” at 30! The weather is warm and the plans are many. Now you are making decisions, not only for yourself, but for others. You have more responsibilities and more opportunities. Sometimes wisdom comes knocking—with some very hard knocks! It becomes more and more obvious what kind of life and what kind of year you’ve made for yourself.
If you are in your mid-thirties, it’s time to celebrate July 4th. Isn’t independence great? But how did time pass so quickly? Valentine’s Day was just yesterday … right? These are warm days, sweltering “years,” hot with the activity of many well-laid plans. The real fruit of your choices is starting to show and grow. It’s time to “number your days” and “apply your heart to wisdom”!
By the time you’re 50, it’s Labor Day, and the summer is over. It’s harvest time! So many choices you made earlier in the year and earlier in life are now ready for harvest. You begin to understand the phrase “too soon old, too late smart.” Fall is on the way. Is that snow on the roof?
It seems a stretch, but if you’re 65 you would be at Thanksgiving. (Whew! Let’s stop and catch our breath!) In this season of the year, you want to gather all your loved ones together. The word “family” is very important during this part of your “life year.” It’s time to gather together to enjoy the fruit of your labors. It’s time to bless and be blessed.
At 70, it’s Christmas … who would have believed it? Reminiscing in this season brings back the memories of a lifetime. The treasure of those beautiful memories must push aside the trash of the bad memories. It’s time to bless others with the fruit of your year and the fruit of your life.
Which season of the “life year” are you now living in? Wisdom teaches us to use each season of life the right way. It’s never too late. As we anticipate the dawn of the year 2003, I hope that all of us will “number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.”
After a lengthy pastoral ministry, Gordon Dickson now serves as a writer and conference speaker. You can contact him at LiveServeLead.
(Originally published in FrontLine • November/December 2002. Click here to subscribe to the magazine.)