Remember that life is but a vapor

I can still hear that first little whimper. It wasn’t really a cry; we didn’t hear him cry for a solid week after his grand entrance into the world. He’s my firstborn, my baby, and today he’s sixteen.

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Where on earth has time gone? How did my baby go from rock-a-bye baby and dirty diapers to driving? It seems like only yesterday I spent my days cuddling him, and now I’m begging for hugs. Maybe you can relate. Or perhaps you’re just getting started or you’re only dreaming about children someday. Whatever season you find yourself, know this; time flies!

“…For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.” — James 4:14b CSB

Life is but a vapor. A little puff of smoke and it’s gone.

This week has me ever so fixed on just how fast time goes and just how true James 4 is. It’s caused me to take a step back and examine my life. To examine whether I’ve been living a life that reflects this vapor mentality or whether I’ve been living like time never ceases. Am I waking up each day living my life to the fullest? Are you? Or are we wandering aimlessly around this life while it passes us by?

There are times my life is hectic and yours too, I’m sure. We run here and run there, burning up the highways, chasing kids or punching a time clock some 40, 60, or 80 hours a week. And I’m all for working hard, providing for your family, and involving your kiddos in the things they love. Really, I am. But a busy life doesn’t mean a fulfilled life.

A fulfilled life doesn’t happen by working more, playing more, running more errands, or by more followers on your social media. A fulfilled life comes through Jesus and a relationship with HIM. He came to give us life to the fullest (John 10:10) both eternal and temporal. I believe with my whole heart God wants us to live a fulfilled life on earth, but He wants to be the fulfillment in your life.

Friend, life is short, like a mist. Here one moment and gone the next. What are you going to do with the time you have? And as I ask that, I heed this warning to you. There will come a day that your heart will stop beating or that the eastern sky will split and we will see the return of our savior. So when I ask you what will you do with the time you have, I urge you to do whatever it is with eternity in mind. There will come a day that you will stand before the Lord and He will either welcome you home or ask you to depart from Him because He knows you not. So, what will you do with the life you have?

I am choosing to hug my kids a little tighter today, love a little harder, smile a little bigger, and lean a little closer to the one who hung the moon. I’m going to choose to live this life like it may not always be here. Will you?

Cassie Downs, formerly of the Ellsinore area, is a speaker and the author of “Chasing Jesus.”