Shopping for groceries every week is not on my list of the things I want to do before I die. I hate it, but it’s a necessary part of life. It’s bad enough that I have to walk all over a store as big as Dallas just to get all the things I need, but I also have to stop and check ingredients to be sure I’m buying healthy things. Last, but certainly not least, I have to check the expiration dates on all of the perishables to be sure I don’t end up paying for bad food. Nothing is more frustrating than getting home with a new carton of milk and realizing it is either already expired or will soon expire before your family has had time to consume it.

Perishables: things that perish. Of course we all know that everything on this planet will perish eventually. Yes, toxic waste and Styrofoam food cartons may be the last things to perish on this planet, but everything eventually is perishable. Some things, like milk products, are perishable within a few days or a week. Black pepper is good for 6 months to a year or more. Other things may last for centuries or even thousands of years before they disappear from landfills. So really, the only difference in perishables is their life-span.

With food, the expiration on the carton is not the date the carton self destructs, but the date that the product inside the carton expires. Milk lasts a short time, but the milk carton lasts for years, yet the carton is where the expiration date is printed.

We have an expiration date printed on our carton. It can be seen only by the eyes of our Creator. Our bodies are designed to expire at a time of His choosing. Some bodies last for a hundred years, while others expire before that first breath is fully drawn. Only God knows the number of our days, or our “expiration date”. He is the one who has appointed our individual life span.

Although we are listed on the list of perishables on this planet, our expiration is a lot different. Our carton, or our physical body, is what expires; not the contents inside. Our spirit that dwells inside our carton has been destined for eternity, to never expire. Jesus promised that by his death on cross, death for us has been defeated. Yes, our bodies will crumble and turn back into the dust of the earth, based on our date of expiration, but our Spirit will live forever. He promised.

We do not know the day or the hour of our expiration, so we should live as if the day is coming soon. You wouldn’t sit and hold a carton of milk day after day; worrying about the day it will expire, only to have it sour in your hands without being put to good use. So we also don’t want to waste what time we have, worrying about when our time will be up. Don’t let one day go to waste. Be what God intended for you to be, today. If he grants you a tomorrow, then do it again tomorrow, and so on, until your appointed time.

Don’t sit and spoil, wasting precious time. Don’t be like the carton of milk that was placed on the kitchen counter and forgotten. It expired much sooner than its intended expiration date before ever having the chance to fulfill its purpose.

There are many blessings out there. May you find more than your share. May your carton runneth over. ~ Ferna

When I look back upon my life,
It’s not my life I see.
It’s more like a “B”-rate movie
But the star in it is me.

I don’t even recognize myself,
In situations past,
But it hurts to know
thirty years are gone.
They slipped away so fast. 

I look and see the mistakes I made,
So many wrong, disastrous turns.
All the heartache, all the pain,
All the bridges that I’ve burned. 

Should I laugh, or do I cry?
Or should I even care?
After all, that is not the real me
In that “B”-rated movie there. 

I am here and I am now, and
Tomorrow, and next week, too.
It could not be me who did those things
To them, and me, and to you.

How I hate the man who lived my life,
Who was me for thirty years.
He took away everything I loved.
He caused so many tears. 

He made things so rough, you know.
I lived in total shame,
Until I found the truth, you see:
A prayer in Jesus’ name.

That prayer separated me from he,
and that old past I couldn’t outrun.
The day I prayed to Jesus
was the day the old me was done.

Now I work so hard, and pray.
I live my life with care.
I look at all the years gone by,
And see that stranger there.

He has my face, my hair, my eyes,
But with them he can’t see
That life’s a precious gift from God,
That’s to be nurtured carefully.

Sometimes I see that man stare back
And he laughs right in my face.
But I draw confidence from God,
That man will never find this place.

Thank you God, my faithful friend,
For saving me from he,
That man I see when I look back,
The “me” that is not me.

 ©2003, Gregory Mills
Posted here with author’s permission.

HIS PROMISE:  For men are not cast off by the Lord forever. Through grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.  For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief  to the children of men.  ~ Lamentations 3:31-33

MY PRAYER:  Lord, thank you for your unfailing love and for your compassion for me, especially during this time of my greatest sorrow. Let me lean on your promises to make it through the days ahead as you restore peace to my soul.

HIS PROMISE:  Though he stumbles, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.  ~  Psalms 37:24

MY PRAYER:  Lord, my burdens are great.  Help me to lean on you, for your strength will see me through these days. Reach down and hold me up with your hand according to your promise.

“Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” We have heard that saying many times. If we haven’t walked in someone else’s shoes, lived their life, fought their battles, known their joys and felt their pain, we can’t judge their actions or lack of actions. We also can’t know their true heart. All we can know is what we can see on the outside. It’s also impossible to judge a book by its cover, so why would we want to judge someone solely based on outward appearance?

Of course, the Bible says we are not to judge…period. That is God’s job at the appointed time. But it is our sinful, human nature to look at the way someone is living their life and without realizing it, make a snap judgment in our heart based upon what we either see or hear.

When we hear someone using foul language, or we see someone obviously drunk or under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or wearing inappropriate clothing, or unclean, it is human nature to judge them as not worthy.

What do we think when we see a scraggly, unshaven, unclean person standing beside the road with a sign begging for help? Human nature is to instinctively think that person needs to clean up and get a job. Human nature tells us that if we give that person money, they would just buy another drink. Human nature…

Human nature is not God’s nature. It is our sinful nature. God’s nature is Divine and Holy. For those who have Christ living within them, we have been instructed that we should be more like Christ. We need to learn to see with the eyes of Christ and respond accordingly, as Christ would respond. There’s a reason for the popular question: “What would Jesus Do?”

The more time we consciously spend reflecting on how Jesus would respond to a situation and try to become more like Him, the sooner we can stop consciously spending time reflecting on how Jesus would respond to a situation. It will become our Nature… Christ’s Nature within us.

Maybe the saying should be, “Never judge someone until you have walked a mile in Jesus’ sandals.”  The more we walk in His sandals in our daily walk through this life, the more we will understand the true heart of Christ.

HIS PROMISE:  Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  ~  Matthew 11:28

MY PRAYER:  Lord, I am weary and have found no rest. I come to you for your promise of rest. Grant me peace that I may sleep as you send your angels to restore my soul.  Nurture my aching heart, Lord, and may I awake refreshed with your spirit.

Life is funny in a way. On the inside, we think we are just puttering along trying to get through it day by day, not really bothering anyone, just struggling along on our own merry way… or not so merry way.

Yet, it never ceases to amaze me how much one solitary soul can affect so many others in their daily walk… and most of the time, never even know it. You, for example. How many people did you interract with today? How many people did you smile at without even realizing it? Or (I hope not) how many people did you growl at through the day? Whichever, you emblazoned a part of yourself upon their heart, totally unintentionally of course. Maybe they will remember, maybe not; but you put it there, maybe for a moment, maybe eternally.

For example, I remember many years ago when one of my cousins was killed in a horrible accident. She was only 13, yet the oldest of 3 children. I went through “my” grief, just as the rest of the family went through “their” grief.  Having a small child of my own, I couldn’t possibly fathom how these parents could deal with such a loss. It broke my heart. Yet, every time I saw them, they always had a smile for me. Always.

One day, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I asked my aunt how, with the terrible loss and the tragic circumstances surrounding that loss, could she face each day, never-the-less with a smile. I really don’t remember her exact words, but she said something about the fact that she had to be strong for her other two children and her husband. She probably said something about her daughter being with the Lord… I can’t really remember as it was so long ago.

What I DO remember, is her smile, her strength, and the impression she made on ME. It changed me, maybe only a little (but it felt like a lot!), and although I’m sure she never gave our conversation a second thought, it’s something I’ve never forgotten:  a piece of her spirit she placed on my heart one day, many years ago.

Then remembering another time, I made a visit to the nursing home with my 2 oldest granchildren (ages 2 and 3 at that time) to visit their great-great grandmother, also some years ago. As we entered the foyer, an elderly woman was sitting alone in her wheelchair. My first thought was to just wheel the children (in a double stroller) down the hall to my grandmother’s room. Then I saw the lonely, empty stare in this woman’s eyes and had to wonder how long it had been since anyone had been to visit her.

I wheeled the girls over towards her and started a casual conversation, introducing the kids and telling her we had come to see “grandma”. In the 5-10 seconds those first couple of sentences tumbled out of my mouth, the transformation on this woman’s face was miraculous. The empty, hollow expression lit up like a million candles. Her eyes sparkled, color came back into her cheeks and the biggest grin I ever saw slowly crept across her face. She was beautiful!

It wasn’t much. It was simply giving her the recognition that she still mattered. A “hello” instead of looking the other way. A smile instead of disinterest. Two little giggling girls to laugh with, if only for a few moments. I don’t know if she remembered this moment after we parted, but I did. I believe that it made a difference, maybe in such a small way, but still a “good” way.

I hope that when my time comes and I’m sitting in a corner somewhere waiting….. that someone will offer me a smile, a pat on the hand, and a word or two of compassion. It doesn’t take much.

Souls touch throughout our lifetime, leaving fingerprints on our heart.  I believe this is truly what God intended when he said, “Love one another.” ~ Ferna Lary Mills

Grief is tuff enough when it comes in “one’s”.  Someone we love has been taken from us and a part of our heart has gone with them. I have often been asked, “Who has the greatest grief?”  Although grief comes in different shapes and sizes, the greatest grief is always your own. Others may have experienced grief, but no one has experienced YOUR grief… and that’s just the pain of “Grief x 1″.

So… what happens when grief is multiplied by 2, 3, 4, or what about 200,000?  I lost both of my parents within a 10-month span. Trust me, without the caring hearts of close friends and the caring hands of Jesus, I honestly believe I could not have managed to get through those awful days. That was “Grief x 2”. Several years prior, I lost my best friend and her entire family in a violent car accident. That was “Grief x 4” as my friend, her husband, and their two precious children died on Christmas Eve as a result of a drunk driver + an interstate highway + a Ford Pinto.

Many people in this country have gone through “Grief x 10, 20, or more” due to the attacks on 9/11, depending on the number of people they knew who perished on that day. Maybe some even experienced “Grief x 100”.  I don’t know.  But grief “times” any number, including the number 1 is unbearable by its very nature.

This week, watching the horrors in Haiti, crying over the photographs of pain and suffering, my heart aching for the elderly, the hurt, and the children who can’t fend for themselves, and for those who lost entire families and neighborhoods to the destruction, I can see “Grief x 200,000” and maybe even more!  

A nation wails, and their cries are heard around the world. The earth shouts in its grief. Maybe it even trembles in its grief, evidenced by the many aftershocks of this devastating earthquake. One woman was heard to cry out, “It’s the end of the world. It’s the end of the world.” I’m sure at that exact moment it felt like it, for it truly was the end of HER world as she knew it.

So, how can we as individuals, or as nations, or as simply citizens of Planet Earth cope with the insurmountable grief in the hundreds of thousands? How can we imagine a future for Haiti? How can we get past this immediate crisis and move forward with plans to rebuild and “get on with life” again? How can we even imagine that life can go on?

The answers are as simple as “Grief x 1”.  We hope … and because we have our Hope in Christ Jesus, our Hope has been promised to be fulfilled.

But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. ~ Isaiah 40:30-31

Hope… that small glimmer inside our heart that sometimes is all that is left in the midst of the destruction, all that is left of our Spirit, but yet… somehow enough.  We cling to that glimmer and allow Jesus to nourish it by our prayers until it grows strong enough that we can share it with others… strong enough to make US strong again… strong enough to lead the way to healing and the rebuilding of fractured and broken spirits, destroyed cities and nations.

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ~  Hebrews 10:23

He is faithful. He is always with us. I believe He grieves with us, His tears intermingling with our own as He holds us close during terrible crisis. As he holds you close, remember to hold steadfast to your faith and to the “hope we profess” for He IS faithful.

He promised!

HIS PROMISE:  The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you. ~ 2 Peter 3:9

MY PRAYER:  Lord, help me to understand that your timing is not the same as mine. I ccannot see things from your viewpoint or your timetable, for I do not have the wisdom to fully comprehend the mind of God. Help me to trust firmly in your promises.

HIS PROMISE: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.  ~ 1 Corinthians 2:9

MY PRAYER: Lord, thank you for your faithful, eternal love for me. Help me to see beyond today and to know that the things you have promised me are so much greater than my mind can ever comprehend. Help me, Lord, to learn to see things from your perspective instead of my own.