Now that my hair is gray, I feel that I have learned a lot of lessons along the path that is called life. First, I have learned to always put God first. Always! Then family and then others and I’m last in the whole order of things. Mostly, I’ve learned and I’m still learning that God is the One who makes the final decisions about everything in my life. I am learning that it is not the things that we have, but Who we have in our lives that really matters.

For many years, I chased the dream of more, more, more. Now, I am learning to be content with what I have and to know that I can’t take any of that “more” with me when I die. The Spirit that lives in me gives me eternal life with the Father. I have also been impressed lately with the brevity of life. My former student who is very young and had a heart attack made me reflect on the fact that life can be gone in the time it times one to snap his/her fingers. That quickly! Gone! Snuffed out! Never to be seen again on this earth doing anything! (By the way, Megan is doing well now, but is still in the hospital as they continue to run tests and try to get her fever under control.) God determines the beginning and the end of the lives of all people, so although we cannot know when and how we will die, we need to live every minute as a gift from God and be thankful.

God is my everything, my all in all. I am continuing to grow in wisdom daily, with some days better than others. I hope that you all are growing in wisdom, too. As the saying goes, “If you aren’t going forward deliberately, then you will be going backwards before you know it.” Blessings for a day of going forward!