May 31, 2021-“Second Life” Career Choice- I Remember When.
Would I like to have another life and try a different career? What a question to ask a 91-year-old!
How many times I have wished I had responded differently to situations in my life.
I used to wonder about re-living my life again and making different choices. Then I remember the heartaches and disappointments I lived through growing old and older.
What I have learned is, as you grow older, the mistakes you make, the things I left out or added in, helped me to look beyond myself and look to God and His Love. One of the most beautiful things about God is He forgives me because He love me, and He is love.
There are so many things to learn in one lifetime. Which friends to choose, what boundaries to draw, and how to find joy and peace through loving others. Having choices can be deceiving. When I understood that truth, I understand my body and my life come from God. I have no power to change God’s plan. I realize how false are the lyrics of, “I did it my way…”.
I can still hear the still small voice remind me of the beautiful reassurances from God’s Word. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:17.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when, as yet, there was none of them. Psalm 139:16.
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3.
I grew up in a cocoon of Dad and Mom’s Faith in God, handed down through generations of faith in our Lord Jesus through persecution, famine, travel, and searching for freedom of worship.
I tried to be my own person, and if I could do my life again, I would listen more to my parents, I would not shrug off their teaching, and would have asked more questions. How I cherished my Grosmom Siemens and my Grandpa and Grandma Suderman.
Now I understand the value of teaching the next generation, so that they may teach the little ones who come after. “Nach, Kommen!” Plaut Dietch for those who come after. These are the ones my Grandparents prayed for before my brothers and I were born.
Before the light was created, before the leaves waved green in the wind and before the first man was created God thought of each of us and loved us.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6.
Our attitude toward our elders, toward each other, toward the little ones should not include pride, but a spirit of humility. With humility, we will be exalted and serve others first. And think of them before ourselves.
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. I Peter 5:6-7.
These are the things I have learned and will use, if God chooses to give me a second life in this world. Then I read, For, to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 4:21.
We live in the world, yet our home is elsewhere. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2.
Then the lyrics of this song waft through my heart:
This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up, Somewhere beyond the blue. (Jim Reeves).