Another Blank Page

Our lives are like books, our days, like pages. Each day starts out blank, clean, free of marks, words and actions. As a writer, I’m often thinking about life as a book and how I will live out my limited pages.

Will I live a story worth retelling after I’m gone? Should I even live a record? And if so, what is worth writing down? Only my vacations? Or everyday life? Should I be honest and share what hurts? What about the fun or funny in my days or the lessons I’ve learned and then had to relearn?

Here’s a thought, maybe I should pen the reason I live..

What really matters to the generations coming behind me? Do they really care about my jean size or its brand name? I think not. I think what they are looking for is truth and love. Compassion. Understanding. Acceptance. Something to lighten their load and laugh about. They need freedom to be who God made them to be, they need encouragement and they especially need hope to carry on.

Several years ago I spoke to a group of about a hundred incarcerated teen boys and girls about “The Gift of Choice.” These kids felt like they had rejection letters written all over their life. So I painted a picture of my past choices (during my teens and twenties) and where those choices led me. To a dead end, to the end of myself, and eventually to the cross. I finished my talk by inviting them to choose Jesus. Tears filled my eyes as I witneessed more than a dozen of them said yes to a new life in Christ. A new page turned, clean, without a mark. Lives once labeled throwaways are now royal family with their names written in the Book of Life.

Beautiful.

I love what David says to God.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalm 139:16

Do you like knowing God has a book? I wonder what He is recording. Just our names? Or the details, those moments we loved without reason? Maybe he’s writing about our tears and triumphs. Something to consider, right? One thing I know is God’s book is a love story and you are in it!

So what will you write on today’s blank page?

Words worth repeating?

Fear or faith?

Something creative?

Bitter or better?

Love or apathy?

The beauty of life is God gives us choice.

Today this is my prayer:

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12