Another Year

18 Aug

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

There are people who treat each day, week, month, and year as if they were death sentences.  They mark the passage of time with little enthusiasm.  They rue each additional day and continue to tell people all the problems they are having because they are getting older.

Then there are those who greet each day as a brand new gift and use it to the max.  They do not care about yesterday nor are they concerned with tomorrow.  Today is the day and they will greet it, celebrate it, use it up, and go to bed at the end of the day filling a sense of accomplishment.

We do not like to be around the first type of people.  We prefer the second, even if their intensity, at times, wears us out.

Today is a special day for one of those people in the second category.  Our bishop, Donald Hying, celebrates a birthday today.  He definitely uses each day as the gift that it is.  He plans each day to the max and plunges into activity after activity as if it were the first and only thing he will be doing that day.

As he is our spiritual leader, he deserves some special consideration.  With the schedule that he keeps, he needs prayers so that he may continue to have the energy required to put himself out there for all along the way.

As we pray for him today, I’d ask you to pray, as well, for those in the first group — the ones who dread each day and who fear aging.  Pray that they be able to see their days as the gift from God that they are.

FAITH ACTION:  Kindly pray for our Bishop Donald J. Hying today as he celebrates his birthday.  God bless him with many more!