Today I walked to the mailbox to mail some bills and I walked past this tree. Our youngest brought this tulip poplar sapling home when he was in fourth grade and I can still see him and his Dad planting it right there beside the driveway. It seems like that small event happened just yesterday!

I, like everyone else in America, had been watching coverage of the shootings in Las Vegas today and as I walked to and from the mailbox I was thinking of how quickly life passes by and how fragile life really is.

The Bible says our life is like a vapor ( James 4:14). From the Living Bible translation it reads like this: ” How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow?” ” For the length of your lives is as uncertain as the morning fog……..now you see it; soon it is gone”

I am sure that most of the persons in Las Vegas were there to enjoy life, have fun, be with their families, and listen to music. I enjoy all of those things too. 

It seems life lately is all about projecting in the negative. It is doom and gloom everyday on the news, bitterness, anger, resentment and back biting. Fingers are pointing in all directions to say that everyone else is at fault. I am absolutely sick of the negative!

I was thinking today how quick we live and how quick we die and death can come at any given time to any of us as the Bible verse says. We are just like a vapor.

We all have circles that we revolve in. Yes, maybe we cannot make big changes on the world front but we can affect our little circle that we spin in. 

May we pray each day to be more Christlike, be more positive, and be more aware that our time here is short. We waste so much of the precious keeping our thoughts and eyes on the negative. 

I walked past that tree today and I thought, “My baby boy and his Dad planted that tree, it was just yesterday, or so it seems.” Now, that baby of mine is a grown man with a wife and two small children….where did the years go?

Let us make the very best of the time that we have. Let us make amends with our skeletons in our closets, heal the hurts we have caused, and love our fellow man like never before.

I believe that Christ is coming back very soon. Will we be standing tall with roots grown deep as this tulip poplar tree beside my drive? I sure hope so!