Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Reflection - Number Our Days - Seize The Day!

Source (book): "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Chapter 37, "Seize The Day!", Page 172.
By David Roper, Pastor, and regular and popular writer for Our Daily Bread.


Since life fleets, all is change; the Past gone, seize to-day!
PHOTO: Since life fleets, all is change; the
Past gone, seize to-day!
- Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

"Light is sweet," the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all." (Ecclesiastes 11:7-8) But remember, the chilly winter of age and infirmity is coming, when . . .
  • "the keeper of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop" - our hands begin to tremble and our legs become bent and weak;
  • "the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim" - our teeth fall out and our eyesight fails;
  • "the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades" - our hearing fails until we can hear almost nothing at all;
  • "men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint" - we don't sleep well at night and wake up with the birds, although, ironically, we can't hear them;
  • "men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets" - we lose our sense of balance and become afraid of heights and other dangers;
  • "the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred" - our hair turns white and falls out; we walk slowly and painfully;
  • "then we go to our eternal home and mourners go about the streets." (Ecclesiastes 12)

If aging doesn't take us, accidental death is always a possibility, when . . .
  • "the silver cord is severed" - the spine is broken;
  • "the golden bowl is broken" - the skull is fractured;
  • "the pitcher is shattered at the spring" - the heart fails;
  • "the wheel is broken at the well" - we bleed to death.

Jeremy Taylor, a seventeenth-century Anglican bishop, describes the aging process this way: "At the end of seven years our teeth fall and die before us." This childhood event, he declares, is the first intimation of our mortality, and, the Tooth Fairy notwithstanding, a "formal prologue to [death]."

Taylor then works his way through other intimations of death as age "takes our bodies in pieces, weakening some parts and loosing others." We "taste the grave" as first those parts "that served for ornament" and then those "that served for necessity become useless." Baldness, he claims, is more than a blow to male vanity; it is "but a dressing to our funerals, the proper ornament of mourning."

He continues: "Gray hairs, rotten teeth, dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, wrinkled skin, short memory" are all reminders of impending death. Thus God "makes us see death everywhere . . . the expectation of every single person."

So the wise writer of Ecclesiastes counsels us: enjoy life while you're young, but remember God, for if you forget Him, you'll find no pleasure in you latter days. God is necessary if you want to enjoy good old age.

So, I must fear Him now - give Him my worship, love, and devotion - and follow Him in obedience "for this is the whole duty of man," or, to quote the wise man precisely, "This is all there is to man."

We were put here on earth to know God and for no other reason. If we do not know Him, not matter what else we have done, our lives are a failure. Thus, barrister William Law concludes, "If you have not chosen God, it will make no difference in the end what you have chosen, for you will have missed the purpose for which you were formed and you will have forsaken the only thing that satisfies."

No matter what our age, this is timely counsel, for if I have grown old and have forgotten God, I will have failed at life no matter what I have accomplished or acquired. I will have missed the purpose for which I was made.

Isn't it good to know that it is never too late to begin again - to put God back into your life?

Lord, what I once had done with youthful might,
Had I been from the first true to the truth,
Grant me, now old, to do - with better sight,
And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth;
So wilt thou, in thy gentleness and ruth [pity],
Lead back thy old soul, by the path of pain
Round to his best - young eyes and heart and brain.
PHOTO: Since life fleets, all is change; the Past gone, seize to-day! - Robert Browning, "Rabbi Ben Ezra"
Artwork by Bernard Partridge - Scene from Rabbi Ben Ezra by Robert Browning
Picture posted by meisterdrucke
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjQ0TCJ4qXiFn1dcU7U3_x8mz97uYShJt0cRFzMyogjGpZzjhyCUywgeYq8WKdgLSIjmEtj4JJPBlqk2TXlJ9RqDZUUkoxGQI9aMcjSxT9fp0kh1WtqkfcR_QBxEgHk9DPLx5H8Jgb4zlgpl4RpoQpu7LBxSOlQabHLkHz2xw_lzZeVpH5j_XfaXShq=s1024
https://www.meisterdrucke.uk/fine-art-prints/Bernard-Partridge/644019/Scene-from-Rabbi-Ben-Ezra-by-Robert-Browning-.html



"Light is sweet," the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all." (Ecclesiastes 11:7-8) [187] But remember, the chilly winter of age and infirmity is coming, when . . .
  • "the keeper of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop" - our hands begin to tremble and our legs become bent and weak;
  • "the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim" - our teeth fall out and our eyesight fails;
  • "the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades" - our hearing fails until we can hear almost nothing at all; [188]
  • "men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint" - we don't sleep well at night and wake up with the birds, although, ironically, we can't hear them;
  • "men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets" - we lose our sense of balance and become afraid of heights and other dangers;
  • "the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred" [189] - our hair turns white and falls out; we walk slowly and painfully;
  • "then we go to our eternal home and mourners go about the streets." (Ecclesiastes 12) [190]

Light is sweet
PHOTO: "Light is sweet," the writer of Ecclesiastes says, "and it pleases the eyes to see the sun. However many years a man may live, let him enjoy them all." (Ecclesiastes 11:7-8)
Picture posted by gettyimages
Picture is enlarged by AI-powered image upscaler from depositphotos at https://depositphotos.com/upscaler.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=button2&utm_campaign=ntf_upscaler&utm_content=en&iterable_campaign=2704095&iterable_template=3704971
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https://www.gettyimages.ae/detail/photo/woman-sitting-in-the-garden-on-a-blanket-royalty-free-image/90797186


If aging doesn't take us, accidental death is always a possibility, when . . .
  • "the silver cord is severed" - the spine is broken;
  • "the golden bowl is broken" - the skull is fractured;
  • "the pitcher is shattered at the spring" - the heart fails;
  • "the wheel is broken at the well" - we bleed to death. [191]

If aging doesn't take us, accidental death is always a possibility, when . . .
PHOTO: If aging doesn't take us, accidental death is always a possibility, when . . .
Picture posted by Alamy - sitting on parapet in green leaves
Picture is enlarged by AI-powered image upscaler from depositphotos at https://depositphotos.com/upscaler.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=button2&utm_campaign=ntf_upscaler&utm_content=en&iterable_campaign=2704095&iterable_template=3704971
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https://h7.alamy.com/comp/EA79JH/young-woman-sitting-on-parapet-in-green-leaves-EA79JH.jpg
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-young-woman-sitting-on-parapet-in-green-leaves-75149273.html


Jeremy Taylor, a seventeenth-century Anglican bishop, describes the aging process this way: "At the end of seven years our teeth fall and die before us." This childhood event, he declares, is the first intimation of our mortality, and, the Tooth Fairy notwithstanding, a "formal prologue to [death]." [192]

Taylor then works his way through other intimations of death as age "takes our bodies in pieces, weakening some parts and loosing others." We "taste the grave" as first those parts "that served for ornament" and then those "that served for necessity become useless." Baldness, he claims, is more than a blow to male vanity; it is "but a dressing to our funerals, the proper ornament of mourning."


Other intimations of death as age 'takes our bodies in pieces, weakening some parts and loosing others.'
PHOTO: Other intimations of death as age "takes our bodies in pieces, weakening some parts and loosing others." We "taste the grave" as first those parts "that served for ornament" and then those "that served for necessity become useless." Baldness is more than a blow to male vanity; it is "a dressing to our funerals, the proper ornament of mourning."
Picture posted by pixels.com on 08 March 2018
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinEBOAmLlldP4JqNhbVPHeEWCxS1NYjcR87VwEAshC3kIA7BkOKuNuciqyMG2PvLIcLyY8WxLvr-ZWGs-KwQhX9G_qmge-FT4DaUNUNmDwbdELBGC1yUbB0DcDcTXYA9LtkiFWbk0aJkc/s900/sorrowing-man-at-eternitys-gate-vincent-van-gogh.jpg
https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/sorrowing-man-at-eternitys-gate-vincent-van-gogh.jpg
https://pixels.com/featured/sorrowing-man-at-eternitys-gate-vincent-van-gogh.html
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/12/reflection-health-and-frailties_24.html
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2021/02/reflection-health-and-frailties-dealing.html


He continues: "Gray hairs, rotten teeth, dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, wrinkled skin, short memory" are all reminders of impending death. Thus God "makes us see death everywhere . . . the expectation of every single person."


Gray hairs, rotten teeth, dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, wrinkled skin, short memory
PHOTO: "Gray hairs, rotten teeth, dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, wrinkled skin, short memory" are all reminders of impending death. Thus God "makes us see death everywhere . . . the expectation of every single person."
Picture posted by davidprocter - very old hmong lady
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjViJp_EFqFWuQ44WsbLxQwLWOUBQpt0biqhuBj1R6OXrAzP8wpvvokLO6qJ9QHfQpaE1QNXQZw24BtXV_XULolAMcwe_sIXlPiheIAO-NfX3snhOz4CamZgE6dHyPkFD_DDNX7vYhzNbYPSDpzuHbuTXID5aBEPMgTULpKVveXweMvfmOgBYMxg3Z_=s776
https://a4.pbase.com/g3/05/628205/2/56776391.veryoldhmonglady.jpg
https://www.pbase.com/image/56776391


So the wise writer of Ecclesiastes counsels us: enjoy life while you're young, but remember God, for if you forget Him, you'll find no pleasure in you latter days. God is necessary if you want to enjoy good old age.

So, I must fear Him now - give Him my worship, love, and devotion - and follow Him in obedience "for this is the whole duty of man," or, to quote the wise man precisely, "This is all there is to man."


The wise writer of Ecclesiastes counsels us
PHOTO: The wise writer of Ecclesiastes counsels us: enjoy life while you're young, but remember God, for if you forget Him, you'll find no pleasure in you latter days. God is necessary if you want to enjoy good old age.
So, I must fear Him now - give Him my worship, love, and devotion - and follow Him in obedience "for this is the whole duty of man," or, to quote the wise man precisely, "This is all there is to man."
Picture posted by Borlive on 23 September 2020
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiE4RS0NauOiYgcl3vEZu4LuCaXEDSMiPnEx3Uq2NHvBcBY1HlTpqeH9E9kKdJ43UpUOnGxPIEoG-qU6Z2rhTlaABbNFeXGCRJwH_CGD2iPm2l2HDQcTRcck-Y6lRkATFIFYCk4cMneb_uq8-iWzXVGjjcRm5C4rvLkPt3sojtR6MRNLu6xC1lnaKrP=s1500
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https://yamazaj.com/retiring-how-to-make-sure-your-money-doesnt-run-out/


We were put here on earth to know God and for no other reason. If we do not know Him, not matter what else we have done, our lives are a failure. Thus, barrister William Law concludes, "If you have not chosen God, it will make no difference in the end what you have chosen, for you will have missed the purpose for which you were formed and you will have forsaken the only thing that satisfies."
 

We were put here on earth to know God and for no other reason.
PHOTO: We were put here on earth to know God and for no other reason. If we do not know Him, not matter what else we have done, our lives are a failure. Barrister William Law concludes, "If you have not chosen God, it will make no difference in the end what you have chosen, for you will have missed the purpose for which you were formed and you will have forsaken the only thing that satisfies."
Picture posted by Vecteezy
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https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2021/06/reflection-number-our-days-in-this-place.html


No matter what our age, this is timely counsel, for if I have grown old and have forgotten God, I will have failed at life no matter what I have accomplished or acquired. I will have missed the purpose for which I was made.

Isn't it good to know that it is never too late to begin again - to put God back into your life?


No matter what our age, this is timely counsel, for if I have grown old and have forgotten God, I will have failed at life no matter what I have accomplished or acquired.
PHOTO: No matter what our age, this is timely counsel, for if I have grown old and have forgotten God, I will have failed at life no matter what I have accomplished or acquired. I will have missed the purpose for which I was made.
Picture posted by PLOV Lounge
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Lord, what I once had done with youthful might,
Had I been from the first true to the truth,
Grant me, now old, to do - with better sight,
And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth;
So wilt thou, in thy gentleness and ruth [pity],
Lead back thy old soul, by the path of pain
Round to his best - young eyes and heart and brain. [193]


Lord, what I once had done with youthful might,
PHOTO: Lord, what I once had done with youthful might,
Had I been from the first true to the truth,
Grant me, now old, to do - with better sight,
And humbler heart, if not the brain of youth;
So wilt thou, in thy gentleness and ruth [pity],
Lead back thy old soul, by the path of pain
Round to his best - young eyes and heart and brain.
Picture posted by Shutterstock
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgwpWgPnBo0I91KNEnbUTu3lq9Z3v5NU6aVy1lp4OlIkSnMmkj69KvyYPo_BUxCa7YSSIdLQs7MTmj6SJnoAsOHsWJwWc0fns-Lo9bD3jFrDiJbQ4OUVyD1bbugg0KRgenR5tnUYvpC8BJ6wmvbY85hUFz5JADetWS-AxQVqhUcuqKE2X3LACKqnDY7=s1600
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https://www.shutterstock.com/pt/image-photo/holidays-tuscany-middle-aged-woman-long-1805978878
 

Dear Lord
PHOTO: "Dear Lord, according to Jeremy Taylor, a seventeenth-century Anglican bishop, the aging process is described as in our childhood event. At the end of seven years our teeth fall and die before us. This is the first intimation of our mortality, and, the Tooth Fairy nevertheless is a formal prologue to death.

Lord, our aging process takes our bodies in pieces, weakening some parts and loosing others. We taste the grave as first those parts that served for ornament and then those that served for necessity become useless. Baldness is more than a blow to vanity; it is a dressing to our funerals, the proper ornament of mourning.

Grey hairs, rotten teeth, dim eyes, trembling joints, short breath, stiff limbs, wrinkled skin, short memory are all reminders of impending death. God ‘makes us see death everywhere . . . the expectation of every single person.’

We learn from Ecclesiastes, counselling us to enjoy life while we're young, but remember God, for if we forget Him, we'll find no pleasure in our latter days. God is necessary if we want to enjoy good old age.

Lord, help us to fear Him now - give Him our worship, love, and devotion - and follow Him in obedience for this is the whole duty of man. This is all there is to man.

We were put here on earth to know God and for no other reason. If we do not know Him, not matter what else we have done, our lives are a failure. If we have not chosen God, it will make no difference in the end what we have chosen, for we will have missed the purpose for which we were formed and we will have forsaken the only thing that satisfies.

No matter what our age, this is timely counsel, for if we have grown old and have forgotten God, we will have failed at life no matter what we have accomplished or acquired. We will have missed the purpose for which we were made.

We pray that we put God back into our life. It is good to know that it is never too late to begin again.

Through Lord Jesus Christ we pray. Amen!"
Picture posted by iStock
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Reflection - Number Our Days - Seize The Day!
Source (book): "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Chapter 37, "Seize The Day!", Page 172.
By David Roper, Pastor, and regular and popular writer for Our Daily Bread.



"Faithful to the end", A Preacher's Exposition of 2 Timothy, @ 2014 by Robert M. Solomon

'Faithful to the end', A Preacher's Exposition of 2 Timothy, @ 2014 by Robert M. Solomon<br>
Reflection - Faithful to the end (Links)
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2017/06/reflection-faithful-to-end-links.html


"Finding rest for the soul" Responding to Jesus' Invitation in Matthew 11:28-29, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Finding rest for the soul (Links)
Reflection - Finding rest for the soul (Links)
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2018/10/reflection-finding-rest-for-soul-links.html


"God in Pursuit" Lessons from the Book of Jonah, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

'Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART I-III, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART I-III, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2019/08/reflection-god-in-pursuit-links-part-i.html


"God in Pursuit" Lessons from the Book of Jonah, © 2016 by Robert M. Solomon

'Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART IV, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
Reflection - God in Pursuit (Links) - PART IV, posted on Saturday, 10 August 2019
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2019/08/reflection-god-in-pursuit-links-part-iv.html 


"Songs of Christmas", The Stories and Significance of 20 Well-Loved Carols, © 2018 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Songs of Christmas (Links), posted on Friday, 24 April 2020
Reflection - Songs of Christmas (Links), posted on Friday, 24 April 2020
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/04/reflection-songs-of-christmas-links.html
 

"Growing Old Gracefully", Following Jesus to the End, © 2019 by Robert M. Solomon

Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part I - III (Links), posted on Wednesday, 09 December 2020
Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part I - III (Links), posted on Wednesday, 09 December 2020
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/12/reflection-growing-old-gracefully-part.html
 

Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part IV - V (Links), posted on Thursday, 22 April 2021
Reflection - Growing Old Gracefully, Part IV - V (Links), posted on Thursday, 22 April 2021
https://veryfatoldman.blogspot.com/2020/12/reflection-growing-old-gracefully-part_9.html
 


Reference
[1] From "Teach Us to Number Our Days", Copyright © 2008 by David Roper, ISBN 978-981-11-7184-0, Chapter 37, "Seize The Day!", Page 172-176.

[187] Ecclesiastes 11:7-8

[188] A grist-mill is very loud.

[189] Hebrew: "When the caperberry is no longer effective." The caperberry was thought to be an aphrodisiac (stimulant).

[190] See Ecclesiastes 12 here and elsewhere throughout the chapter.

[191] "Wheel" is an allusion to the water wheel by which people in the ancient Middle East raised water from their wells and cisterns for domestic purposes or to irrigate the land. The ancient knew about the circulatory system long before William Harvey "discovered" it.

[192] Jeremy Taylor, Holy Dying.

[193] George MacDonald, Diary of an Old Soul, January 1.


Links


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