Light is sweet..

Amazing how the years pass. I recall the younger days when we had more energy and seemed to enjoy every minute. Now I find myself reacting at times in a negative way to lifes' challenge. Also seems like move valleys along the way than mountain peaks as one ages. It does sadden me but as Solomon writes instructively that it shouldn't surprise me and that we are to not take our youth for granted and pursue God.

Ecc. 11
7 Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning.
8 When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless.

9 Young people, it’s wonderful to be young! Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do. 10 So refuse to worry, and keep your body healthy. But remember that youth, with a whole life before you, is meaningless.

Ecc. 12
1 Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.” 2 Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. 3 Remember him before your legs—the guards of your house—start to tremble; and before your shoulders—the strong men—stoop. Remember him before your teeth—your few remaining servants—stop grinding; and before your eyes—the women looking through the windows—see dimly.

4 Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint.

5 Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.

6 Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. 7 For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
8 “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless.”

Ecclesiastes 11:7- 12:8 (NLT)



Though we experience many wonderful days in our short life we also experience trials and some dark days.

"A summer’s day supposed to be enjoyed—that life may continue long, even many years, and that, by the goodness of God, it may be made comfortable and a man may rejoice in them all. There are those that live many years in this world, escape many dangers, receive many mercies, and therefore are secure that they shall want no good, and that no evil shall befal them, that the pitcher which has come so often from the well safe and sound shall never come home broken. But who are those that live many years and rejoice in them all? Alas! none; we have but hours of joy for months of sorrow. However, some rejoice in their years, their many years, more than others; if these two things meet, a prosperous state and a cheerful spirit, these two indeed may do much towards enabling a man to rejoice in them all, and yet the most prosperous state has its alloys and the most cheerful spirit has its damps; jovial sinners have their melancholy qualms, and cheerful saints have their gracious sorrows; so that it is but a supposition, not a case in fact, that a man should live many years and rejoice in them all. "(Matthew Henry Commentary )

"Oh, that they were wise and could understand this!

    Oh, that they might know their fate!" Deu 32:29 (NLT)

Charles Spurgeon said "Oh, Let us consider then, how uncertain life is. Talk we of a hair; it is something massive when compared with the thread of life. Speak we of a spiders web; it is ponderous compared with the web of life. We are but as a bubble; nay, less substantial. As a moment's foam upon the breaker, such as we are." (Sermon 304) 

"Let me think, too that when I die I must leave behind me all that I have on earth. Farewell! to that house which I have so fondly called my home. Farewell! to that preside and the little prattlers that have climbed my knee. Farewell I to her who has shared my life and been the beloved one of my bosom. Farewell! All things—the estate, the "old, the silver. Farewell! earth. Thy fairest beauties melt away, thy most melodious strains die in the dim distance. I hear no more, and see no more, Ears and eyes are closed, and men shall carry me out and bury their dead out of their sight. And, now, farewell! "

Sermon 304

As I grow older I recall the blessings in this life and I'm thankful.

Read a quote concerning William Wilberforce-

"Sometimes ..tears flow when we are seated beside a lake at sunset and a palpable sense of  Gods goodness overtakes us even as it is mirrored in the sky. Wilberforce shed tears of joy when he was alone with God, and he was overwhelmed with a sense of all that God had done in his life. He knew what it was to have felt the touch of amazing grace. 

Mountains- Hillsong United

See a light in the darkness
A city shining without a veil
This hill becoming a mountain
A solid rock that will never fail

Your name
My hope
Fortress in the raging storm
My heart
Is Your hope
Jesus let Your love take hold

The stone the builders rejected
Laid to ransom a fractured bride
A crushing weight on your shoulders
We stand forever with arms stretched wide

Your name
My hope
Fortress in the raging storm
My heart
Is Your hope
Jesus let Your love take hold
[x2]

For Your name, heart and soul
My life is Yours a living stone
For Your glory, heart and soul
Surrendered all to build our home
[x2]

Your name, my sure foundation
The hope of glory for one and all
Your love endures forever
Our only mountain that will not fall

All the earth, welcome hope
In every heart Your will be done
All Creation, welcome home
This hope is ours Your kingdom come

We cry holy, holy, holy
We cry holy is Your name
[x4]

For Your name, heart and soul
My life is Yours a living stone
For Your glory, heart and soul
Surrendered all to build our home