All But a Mist

James writes: "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (James 4:14b).

Or consider the psalmist who writes: "For my days pass away like smoke, and my bones burn like a furnace." (Psa 102:3).

The preciousness of human life is but a vapor that appears to be blown away by the wind.  Solomon calls it but a vanity of vanities, a truly fleeting thing.  But this has never stopped humans from delusions of grandeur, from exalting our paltry lives to the heights of the created order.  We constantly and continually attempt to own, to conquer, to claim, and to name all that is within our reach.  But, in the end, mist cannot keep the time, vapor cannot hold anything.

Instead, all that we have has been given us by God.  We are but stewards to the grace that has been given.  This includes above all else the resource of time; we cannot own it our keep it but we are held accountable to how we use it.  We should never forget this reality, for how we use the precious little time that we've been blessed with is of the utmost importance.  Let us, then, never forget this truth but let it be the bedrock for our devotion and discipline to the Lord!