fbpx
×

Log into your account

We have changed software providers for our subscription database. Old login credentials will no longer work. Please click the "Register" link below to create a new account. If you do not know your new account number you can contact [email protected]
It started with a baby & a puppy
Rhonda Rhea
June 22, 2017
3 MIN READ TIME

It started with a baby & a puppy

It started with a baby & a puppy
Rhonda Rhea
June 22, 2017

Not that I’m big on throwing my time away, because I had plans for accomplishing something great today. But you have to understand, that video said I wouldn’t BELIEVE what happened next.

“BELIEVE” – it was in all caps. It’s not like I had a choice anyway, but I could see that this video had a baby in it. And a puppy. Only a monster could just scroll down like it wasn’t a baby and a puppy.

Rhonda Rhea

There are a few other things I squeezed onto the day’s itinerary that didn’t exactly start out there. But those makeup tips on Pinterest are not going to pin themselves. And also, that word game on my phone keeps my brain sharp. Who needs a mind-sharpener more than I do? I’ve finger-swiped miles of words in that game.

Frittering my time away isn’t too biblical – even if something in my brain says it’s OK. At the end of this life, I wonder how many of us will say, “Sure wish I’d played more dragon games on my computer.” Or maybe, “If only I’d spent more time looking at my phone.”

It’s not that recreation is a bad thing. There’s often restful, rejuvenating purpose in a couple of “kick back and relax” items on the day’s itinerary. But we do only live once here, YOLO as they say.

We need to spend our fleeting time wisely.

I think if someone translated “YOLO” into Latin, it would be, “carpe diem.” Every day is one that’s begging to be seized.

Despite its familiarity, I still read Romans 12:1-2 regularly: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (CSB). It never fails to inspire me to seize the day. It does for my heart so much more than any word game could ever do for my brain. It’s like a heart-soul-and-mind-sharpener.

At every point I allow His Word to be my mind-sharpener, change happens. It’s a renewing of mind that doesn’t simply result in a nice word score, but one that can reveal “the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” There’s simply nothing I want out of this one and only physical life more than I want to know and do His will.

Live once in the physical – sure, YOLO. But for those of us who’ve been born again, life here is followed by an eternity spent in the glorious presence of Christ. Every time we think of that glory, we’re inspired all the more to live each day like it’s our last, loving Him with every minute we’re given.