26,000 Days of Possibilities

 

Daddy and me! 

What is 26,000? About ten years ago I listened to someone discussing Mark Batterson’s book IF. The question of “how many days had each of us lived” was posed. The challenge was to count each day. Online I found a way to calculate my days from birth to a specific date and began to record them in my devotional/prayer journal. That was some years ago, but on June 19, 2026, I reached 26,000 days! 

The challenge had been to evaluate our days for purpose. Each time I wrote the total number of days I had been given, I became more aware of how I spent each of these days and often what I had not done. Over these many years of living, I have wasted more time than I care to admit and have known days and seasons of waiting for God’s leading on what would be next or what decision to make. I have also celebrated many of the days, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and graduations, births of children, friendships both new and old, and achievements, mine and others. My days have been full of countless blessings - those I remember, those I have forgotten, and the ones I simply missed. 

While we prefer not to think about dark times, there have been hard days that felt hopeless, endless, and uncertain. Days where disappointment and disease and death have randomly interjected themselves into my life. I have grieved with others; I have grieved my own losses. My timeline also finds days of service but sometimes reluctant sacrifice, obedience and inherent obstinance, revival and occasional remorse, faithfulness and unplanned failures. We all have such days.

 

Josh Baldwin’s song “Evidence” often reminds me, “All throughout my history, Your faithfulness has walked beside me… I see the evidence of Your goodness all over my life.” Seeing and knowing God’s goodness matters because while many of our journeys on this earth are exciting and new and joy-full, some are winding and uphill. How easily we find His Goodness in times of renewal and rejoicing! Yet, in the narrow spaces and difficult places we doubt His Goodness. God’s Goodness is always with us.

In his book, Batterson suggests that counting our days is like “counting the possibilities” of our lives. The opportunities we have every day to make a positive impact for Christ in this world are countless. He writes, “The possibilities of your life are limitless.” If we seek God, He will show us more possibilities than we can imagine. Find, or maybe rediscover, your God-given passion and purpose. Then act! I remain more than grateful to God’s generosity to me - 26,000 days and counting! To God be the Glory in all that is done in service for Him. -dho

 

** I confess to not having read IF, but I will say my favorite Mark Batterson book is Whisper, How to Hear the Voice of God. I do recommend it. I wrote a Summer Series on my blog in 2019 about this book (June 13, 2019-September 5, 2019). Can search the blog by “2019 Summer Series” or go to the 2019 index.