Love Lines From God: Life, Fragile, Handle with Care

Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. James 4:14 NLT

Life is like a gingerbread manger scene.

After fifty-seven years of not having done it, I decided I wanted to. Put a gingerbread house together. Or in this case, a gingerbread manger scene.

We scheduled a night where two of our grandboys and their mom could join the fun. Sitting five Type A personalities around a kitchen table with flour and gingerbread dough would have tested anybody’s nerves.

I quickly discovered I must handle gingerbread figures with care. Not enough flour and they’ll come apart before I get them on the cookie sheet. Even the premade were fragile. The least little bit of pressure and the cookie shape snapped. In this case, one of the wise men’s head. But then again, who wants hard cookies?

James compares life to morning fog. Even when fog chooses to hang around until mid-morning—or even lunch time—it evaporates quickly. In the realm of things, several hours within a twenty-four hour period is brief.

As I get older, I notice the brevity of life more. My wife recently remarked, “You know next year you will be fifty-eight.” As if I needed reminding . . . or wanted it. “And I’ll be ….” Hopefully, we both have a number of years to live, but we know how fragile life is. An accident, terminal illness, or crime could end quickly what we hope continues for a long time yet.

Fortunately, life doesn’t end when it ends. God has created us with a soul (or spirit) that lives on after we take our final breath. Paul said absence from the body meant presence with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Of course, the key to being with Christ is to know Him as our Savior. Otherwise, we’ll still make it home but in a home we won’t want to live in for eternity.

Yet, we make our impact now . . . on earth . . . while we’re living. Since life is fragile, we need to do all we can in the short time we have. Our decision for or against Christ makes an eternal impact, but Christ wants us to impact people’s lives in the present through acts of love and kindness.

Life is fragile. Don’t wait until tomorrow to live it to its fullest. Begin today.

Tweetable: Are you handling life with care?

Prayer: Father, prompt us to impact people’s lives today and every day.