Dash Between the Dates

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Dash Between the Dates
This devotional was written by Leslie Snyder

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.—Psalm 90:12

Over the past two years the song “One Hundred Years” by the group Five For Fighting has enjoyed immense popularity and numerous weeks on the pop music charts. It is also featured as the background song for a credit card company celebrating life’s milestones. People love this song and for obvious reasons. It celebrates the sweet seasons of life while acknowledging the quickening speed at which life occurs. In a recent Bible study, the leader suggested that while a headstone shares the birth and death dates of the person, life is what happens in the dash between the dates.

The art of good living and the quest to live longer surround us. Modern medicine lengthens life, heals innumerable diseases and is now suggesting that babies born today may see a life expectancy of 150 years. But the truth is that no one really knows how many days a person will see on this earth. Just this past week, I heard of a friend whose great-great grandmother passed away at the age of 105, while another friend lost his college-aged daughter in a tragic car accident. Still another friend has a baby clinging to life after an emergency delivery. In this life, there is no guarantee.

Scripture is full of reminders that life is brief. Even a full life of one hundred years is nothing in light of eternity. James 4:14 reads, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Psalm 103:15 records, “As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.”

Knowing this, how can we waste even one day? Life is precious and our days are numbered. Today we are living somewhere in the dash between birth and death. The question is: what are we doing with our dash?