What if their calendar's abrupt cessation in 2012 is a true foretelling of the Apocalypse?
Then again,
"He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority..'" ~Acts 1:7
"...you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night." ~1 Thessalonians 5:2
"Who has known the mind of the Lord?" ~Romans 11:34a
Because of Scriptures like those, I tend to think the rumor-mongering has no basis in reality. I came across a smart alec-y quip on Dear Blank, Please Blank the other day that said something to the effect of "we stopped making calendars because our people were overrun by foreign mercenaries." Sounds reasonable to me; we couldn't expect the Mayans to continue recording the calendar forever anyway, could we?
Even so. What if it's true? What if the year 2011 is the last for this planet, and for all of us?
I know where I'm going post-end times. I'm not worried about that:
"When He comes for His own, He will have no trouble recognizing me...because my banner will be clear." ~Adam Young
"...His banner over me is love." ~Song of Solomon 2:4b
I do have a lot I want to do here...not that it's my call when I die, or that I dictate what happens in my life, but...you know. Hopes. Dreams. One has them, inevitably. I do want to grow up, have kids, see the world -- that kind of thing. The idea of the world actually ending -- second coming, rapture, Armageddon, holy-moly-on-a-sourdough-rolly: the earth is NEW and I am too -- while I'm alive? And young? It's fascinating. And slightly really terrifying. It makes me wonder what, exactly, might be my purpose here.
To live my life for His glory and to praise Him in all that I do.'Sunday School,' perhaps, but true. That's why I'm here. There may be a specific, a 'mission,' as it were, but that's the general idea, right? Use your life to glorify your Maker.
I'm not doing a very good job of it.
I've been home for my long (delightfully, deliciously long) Christmas break for just shy of two weeks now. It feels like much less. It feels like I just got here, just caught my breath a little bit, but I'm already in panic mode about finding my books for next semester, getting my passport for the intercession trip that's happening right after that semester, getting some reading for classes done so that I'm not swamped, accomplishing all the nothing I wanted to do over break, and in general having enough time. The end is in sight, and so far, I have done nothing with the time I've had to rest. I've watched television. I've read a few books. I've baked and gone out and had one wine cooler too many and danced and laughed and gotten angry and slept (alot) and talked to a few people but really? What have I done? Where is this break going? I have so much left to do...
Sometimes I'm afraid of not having enough time.
And that's wrong.
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Not Biblical, but a good motto. As a redeemed daughter of the King, I have absolutely nothing to fear from anything or anyone.
Anyway.
Time.
"It hangs. It weighs. And yet there is so little of it. It goes so slowly. And yet, it is so scarce." ~from Wit, by Margaret Edson
It's true; time slips away from us. Before we realize what's happened, it's gone; fortunately, everything happens in God's timing.
That assurance, to which I return so flippantly and so frequently, does carry a mandate: get moving. I spend far too much time sitting around thinking about the things I need and want to do rather than just doing them. Too often, I take advantage of God's promise [that my life will unfold according to His plan] to indulge in apathy and laziness. 'Why worry? Why bother? God's got it,' I'll think. Terrible idea. Get. Going.
Life is too precious, our commission too important, to sit by idly.
I've been blessed, haven't I? I've been afforded a life which allows me to know the grace and sacrifice of my Savior; I've been given certain circumstances -- opportunities to reach out and affect many lives. What right have I to hoard the Gift to myself? I need to share Him: by witnessing, by asking Christ to shine through me, by living as He would have me live.
It is wrong to waste precious time. Wrong to watch it pass by. There's something to be said for stillness; how can we hear God when we're too busy speaking ourselves? But the point at which stillness becomes inability or unwillingness to act? Before then, it's time to do.
Perhaps this is the last year of my life. If it is? I've got to make it the best -- and I don't mean 'have the most fun; do all those things I've always thought about doing and never had the guts to try; make the most friends and read the most books.'
I mean make it so transparently evident to all I encounter that Christ is my Savior, the Lover of my Soul, that there can be no doubt in anyone's mind that I am ransomed and redeemed.
That God will one day "look me right in the face...sinner though I am, and say 'righteous'"(~John Piper).
That He loves each and every one of them as inexpressibly much.
That this Gift "of great joy that will be for all the people...a Savior, who is Christ the Lord," wants them to know Him and receive Him as their own.
I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions; somehow, they always fall apart two or three days into the year. But this year...maybe I have made one.
To live unashamedly. To live truly. To live well.
To make my Father proud.
"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." ~Psalm 90:12
