"Like Sands Through the Hourglass, So Are the Days of Our Lives."

     The title for today's Flat Tire Ministry Thought is taken from the opening tagline of the long-running daytime American soap opera Days of Our Lives. The tagline was accompanied by a picture of an hourglass with the sands quickly dissipating from the top bulb to it's resting place in the bottom portion of the timepiece. (Little did the viewing audience of said soap opera dramas realize that, in my opinion,  they were actually wasting their time about like someone sitting around watching the sand flow downward in an hourglass!) But that is all fodder for another day, today's topic for our  FTM deals with time and how we need to make the most out of the time we have in front of us. 
     A few years ago I settled with an understanding of a concept that, as obvious as it is, most people have not come to terms with and are not living accordingly. If you were to ask people about their fears you would find that one of the top ten things folks would tell you that they are afraid of is dying. Well guess what, not being morbid or pessimistic, but if you are living you are dying, point blank end of story. Just like the grains of sand in that hourglass aren't moving upward into that upward bulb, our days left on this egg aren't growing in number. So my conclusion, revelation, Aha moment whatever you want to label it is this; if we know we have a finite number of days to live, why are we so worried about dying, that is inevitable. We should instead be more focused on making sure we live each day as if there won't be a tomorrow! 
      Now like I said earlier I'm not convinced that most people have a full grasp of the gravity of this concept and I have garnered that conclusion in part because when I shared my "AHA" moment with a colleague they looked at me puzzled and concerned and inquired "Are you okay, is there something wrong?" Many times our first thoughts are about the wrong end of that outcome. Instead of putting so much concentration on our ultimate end, why aren't we more concerned with how much life we can squeeze out of the time we have and stop worrying about the one thing we can't control. 
      We can all do things like exercising, eating healthier, and getting adequate amounts of sleep, to hopefully extend our time here on earth, but at the end of the day, literally, we do not have very much control over when it is our time to go home. On the other hand, what we do with the time we have been given each day we live is totally ours to decide. How we are going to spend it and what we are going to accomplish during that time is completely up to us. When you look at your calendar what do you find filling the squares for each day? Are you spending your time working, moping around, harboring hard feelings, or worst of all looking at your condition in life and complaining about how bad you have it? Well you can spend your time here doing just that and what will you have accomplished, nothing that will amount to anything. Instead I believe you have to get up in the morning and armed with the knowledge that this is the day that the Lord hath made I will rejoice and be glad in it, (see Psalms 118:24 for more on that one), we have to go out and live today like there isn't going to be a tomorrow.
     If I'm living today instead of planning on doing something when I get time to do it I'm going to leave no stones untouched when it comes to my plans in life. I know people who go through life holding grudges or disowning family members over something as trivial like hurt feelings or financial matters. It may be bad, it may have cost you or your family a great deal of strife, but is it worth losing time with your family? Make amends today who knows there may not be a tomorrow. People proclaim that they would spend more time with family, spend more time exercising, reading, praying, serving, whatever you want to fill in the blank with, if only they were not so busy. Well "you can not serve two masters, for you will love the one and hate the other, or else you will hold to the one, and despise the other, you have to pick one." paraphrased from Matthew 6:24. You only have one life to live and trust me it ain't getting any longer, don't put off till tomorrow what you can accomplish today is a good motto to live by each and every day.
      The grains of sand aren't increasing in my hourglass and I'm okay with that, I'm in the same boat with about 7.5 billion other people, the area where I'm gaining ground is what I'm doing with those grains of sand I still have left. Do I know how many I have, unfortunately / fortunately we aren't given that tidbit of information, but what I do know is while I have breath to breathe and while I have an opportunity to live I am going to live it, love it, and make a difference in it until it's over and then I hope I did enough that my life will still be impacting other lives long after I am gone! That's how you can beat that old hourglass. Do things that will matter in other lives and things that will impact the world in a positive manner in which you live. Don't be worrying about yesterday it's gone, and don't be dwelling on how bad you have it because you are alive and as long as you are alive you have a purpose to fulfill so go for it! Make amends, make headway, set your course, go deep, work harder, live stronger, leave the place you were better than it was, and always make a difference in someone's life in a positive way! We can't stop the sand, but we can most certainly color each and every grain with a rainbow of life experiences that will make a difference in someone's life. 
     It's the last week of school where I'm from, I plan to keep on pushing to make a difference while I still have a chance, what about you? 
Coach Carter