Extended Lifetime

‘I’m living on an extended lifetime,’ quips my Grandpa while staying with us.

At times, his voice droops to the level almost unsound to bear with, as he recounts what had happened on that fateful day of Mid-October this year.

Grandpa, now in his 90s, met an accident while supervising my cousins as they fell a tree. His right humerus bone, right below the shoulder and above the elbow suffered a huge blow, which completely separated the bones inside. The tree trunk missed his head and body by few inches, which would turn the body into pulp.

Since critical medical care is nearing to non-existence in the small suburban town, which is more than a thousand miles from us. He has come for broken bone surgery. His stay has been a blessing to us. A retired Pastor he was, Grandpa is still actively participating in the churches and prayer services till the time the novel Coronavirus hit even the thinly populated areas.

Counting our Days:

Some time in our life, we met happiness, sadness, the passing of our loved ones, near death experiences in several ways, which makes us willing to count the days of our lives in gratitude and as a positive way of living. For my Grandpa, he is contented but very much willing to do more for the Kingdom of God, it was a call to count his days.

‘Mid-October…what is the date now?….to this day…,” he’d thankfully paused, followed by a smile on his face.

He wanted to tell more of his working days scaling the hills and valleys of the region on foot. I can still saw the picture in my mind when Grandpa would come home after visiting the villages, carrying his clothes in a shawl and wearing a handwoven cloth around his waist. That’s how he spent the days as he always traveled on foot.

Fleeting Life:

The other day when I stumble upon this vivid warning about the end of life, it sounded deep into my heart. It reads, It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart. Ecclesiastes 7:2

The brevity of life is expressed many times in many ways. Poets and Poetess based their poems on the fleeting life of man as if there’s a competition to describe how short is our life. Some put it bluntly while the others try to talk softly about it. However, the resulting end is the same.

“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.” Psalms 39:4 “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Psalms 90:12 in the words of the Psalmist

Our fleeting life is a reminder of our fragility that we may gain knowledge for our everyday living, save our life and our soul from the eternal wrath of God. People questioned the wrath of God. Yet wrath is a result of love. Without love, there is no anger.

What helps you to number your days?

I cannot give you a complete answer. It is a question for you to ponder over. The answer will vary from person to person. The way we count our days or our extended lifetime will differ. Some of us will find happiness in it yet some would be bitter all the way.

There is a variety of reactions to this verse as well: “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all my days were written in Your book and ordained for me before one of them came to be.” Psalms 139:16 The reactions I will try to talk about it sometime later.

For now, take some time out to look back on life and all the good and bad that is happening to you. If you find gratitude in it, I am urging you to give thanks. If not, think it over you will find happiness in life. Every day is an extended life for us! Although you may want to give up or you may want to live forever, it is not in our hands. But to live forever in spirit is to give our lives to the Savior Jesus Christ!

Use your extended lifetime well for you and your Creator!