#14 – The Dash of Vapor – May 30, 2024

James 4:14-16, ”…whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”

Coming back from a doctor’s appointment in Somerset last week, I noticed how beautiful and puffy the clouds were.  Some were so thick and they were the perfect clouds for pointing out shapes of faces, animals, and other objects.  Straight ahead I watched a cloud that looked just like a turtle. But the more I drove it transformed into something else.  Then it just went completely out of shape by the time I got home.

I came home and put my stuff away, after picking up a few groceries, I decided to sit on the porch and watch the clouds a little longer.  I just couldn’t get over how beautiful they were against the blue sky and the bright sun.

As I watched, the clouds that were “wispy” began to disappear; never to be seen again.  But…there were other wispy clouds that floated through the sky.  The big thick ones, eventually, seemed to just swallow them up.

As I sat and watched some of these clouds come and quickly disappear, the verse above came to mind and I was reminded that we are only here for a very short time.  Some are granted long lives…some are taken way too soon.  And we ask the question…why?  Unfortunately we never get an answer to satisfy our question.

As I’m writing this, my husband brings in an obituary of a young man in our community who passed away at the age of 49.  Hundreds, perhaps thousands, have been praying for his recovery since he first found out his diagnosis in 2017. He was a husband, father, friend, and a person who valiantly fought through the cancer that eventually took him home to be with his Number One Friend…Jesus Christ.  

When listing a person’s birth date and death date we separate it with a “dash”.  It’s been said that it’s not when you were born or when you die that’s important, but rather the dash in between.  In other words…what are you doing with your life?  This young man had an impressive dash and one that will be remembered forever by so many.

As old as I am…it feels as if it was just yesterday when I was young and carefree.  I gave my life to Christ when I was only 10 years old.  However, I’ve made many mistakes, dealt with terrible loses, spoken words of anger, suffered anxiety, worry, and I still do at times.  But I’ve also tried to right my mistakes, find comfort from my loses, asked forgiveness for my anger, and fought through the anxiety, and the fear of my worries.  I’ve tried to make my “dash” something that my family and friends can look back on and say…”It was a good life”.  I want my dash to mean something positive.  I want God to see it as a life worthy of His love and grace.

I recently saw the following and want to share it with you.  It’s a good outline for building our own dash:  “Life goes by in the blink of an eye.  It’s too short to live upset, angry, resentful or ungrateful.  If you look for the good, you’ll find it.  Choose to be happy, to be at peace. Decide that each day is going to be a great day and grab each moment and make the best of it.  Refuse to let negative thoughts take root in your mind and refuse to let negative people and situations drag you down.  Trust your journey and know that if you make a mistake, it’s okay.  See it as a lesson learned and keep moving forward.  Spend less time worrying and more time being grateful for those who love you and all of life’s goodness.” (Charity M. Richey-Bentley)

None of us lives a perfect life, but it’s important to know that God is real. Jesus was God in the flesh that walked on this earth and died a cruel and unspeakable death because He loved us so.  He rose from that death to let us know that when our dash is complete, it won’t be completely over for us. 

To know what your dash will mean to God, we are given two choices…to believe in Jesus Christ, or not believe in Jesus Christ.  John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

 How much “vapor” is leftin your life?  It goes quickly and it could be gone sooner than you think.  It could be gone tomorrow.  Are you ready?

Nancy Stoppe                     

Stoppe123@comcast.net

Blog – inspirationalinsights6.com  (inspirational insights 6 .com)