Thursday, February 10, 2011

Between time and eternity

This past Sunday, I found myself with a moment to sit down and breathe while at "Bingo at the Bridge" with our 4th and 5th graders. This is a monthly event where we get some fast food lunch after church and then spend about 45 minutes with the residents of one of the assisted living facilities in our town. The kids look forward to it. They like to call the Bingo numbers (it's just about the only time in my life I have to tell kids to be louder), pass out the 50 cents the winner receives, sit with the residents, help the ones who can't hear as well, and play in the beautiful courtyard at the end of the day.

While sitting there Sunday, I thought about the stories these men and women could tell about their lives. It has been fun to watch their personalities in the 3+ years we have been going there - the really sweet ones, the funny ones, the bossy one, the ones who don't take the 50 cents when they win because they don't need it and they're just there for fun and to pass the time. I wondered how many of them had been "important", how many lives they had touched, how they had made a difference for others. In what ways have their lives mattered?I became very aware of the fact that I had spent the morning with children who (ideally) have their whole lives before them to love, and now I was spending the afternoon with people for whom almost all of their days have passed.

And here I am in the middle, somewhere between the 5 year olds and the 80 year olds (no, that average is not my age yet!). Has my life mattered and to whom and has it been enough and what else can I do? I tell the kids that you only get to grow up once, so they need to enjoy being a kid and at the same time they need to start now living God's way.

I have just finished reading Tony Dungy's autobiography "Quiet Strength". Simply put, he is an amazing man of God. He stated many times that football is just a game and that he felt that his purpose in football was to use it as a platform to show and tell people about the things that really matter - life in Christ, family, others. It is easy to see that Tony Dungy's life has been important, that he has made a difference. He's famous and has used his position well in glorifying God.

I will never be famous (which is very fine with me); but I can and must live my life to glorify Christ and build a legacy for my children and my Grace Kids. Then, one day, when most of my days have passed if someone wonders if my life mattered, if I was important, if made a difference - the answer will be yes, because she lived to glorify God.

How about you?

1 comment:

  1. Beautifully stated, Tonya! Thanks for the reminder of living for Jesus while serving others.... that is what we are commanded to do on this earth... you do such a WONDERFUL job of this... I know God is pleased when He looks down on your life.

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