86,400 seconds

My day lies before me like empty white pages just waitin for the black ink of a pen. No dot or spot or smudge interrupts the blankness of the page. But I look out my window and see the dark of night begin to fade as dawn comes creeping up to brighten my day. The trees of my front yard that once were shrouded in black have begun to take shape and now I can see what I could not see just moments ago.

That is the days of our lives. We wake up every morning with 86,400 seconds before us to fill. These seconds are brimming with possibility. These seconds are just waiting for action to happen. What will my day hold for me? Who will intersect my life today? What thoughts will fill those seconds? How will God use me today?

I look back over my past 86,400 seconds. I didn’t get much accomplished. I sat to write multiple times yesterday and I just walked away. No words formed to fill my blank computer screen. Where are You God? Why are You not filling my thoughts? I was on a strange path. I felt I was weaving and wondering aimlessly through the trees that lined my neighborhood, but even that path had a purpose. Those seconds spent have brought me to this day and this moment as I sit and watch my curser move across the computer screen and the letters I am punching are appearing as black alphabets and forming words. Sometimes the thoughts in my head aren’t clearly translated onto the white screen or I misspell a word and I must punch the delete key to erase and begin again. That is what happened over and over again yesterday. I kept using the backspace button. My day was spent in useless delete mode. But we can’t live life like that and still make forward progress on whatever project we are working on. I would like to tell you yesterday was like that, but I cannot because God won’t let me. God doesn’t waste moments. The seconds of our lives are precious to Him. Every hour is filled with 3600 seconds of possible teaching moments with God.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentation 3:22-23 ESV.

My eyes opened at 6:10 this morning. The moment they opened I knew the next 86,400 seconds were already filled with God’s fresh mercy. Yesterday of aimless typing was behind me. This morning as I sat and watched the sun erase the dark, I got out my keyboard and began the clicking of typing. Why are these writing seconds so important to me? It is because of Who I am searching for as I write. We each have our different ways of seeking God and spending time alone with Him. Writing is my own personal way. Writing is the one of the ways God communicates with me. The stories in my books and the words of these posts are some of the ways God becomes so real to me. His Presence is palpable. My thoughts and ideas are filled and weighted down with visions of His glory, and with questions and musings of what it must have been like to be one of the people that met Jesus as He traveled the dusty roads of Judea and Samaria.

See that is why I was so frustrated with my yesterday. I felt far from God. I could see Him in the distance like a shadow moving through the trees. I could see Him walking toward me, but can’t you see, it was me who was hitting the backspace button. It was me backing away from Him. I really didn’t want to spend the energy of those seconds focusing on His thoughts. My eyes were tired. I wanted to do what I wanted to do. I wanted to spend my 86,400 seconds on myself and my thoughts.

But today is a new day, filled with new mercies. Today is a new day to travel “On The Way” toward the heart of God. I will get in my car and stop at intersections. You may pass by. Maybe, you might even be in the car I am waiting on. My day will be filled with people who know the Lord, or someone who is searching for Jesus may intersect this day. I don’t know. I have 86,400 seconds to be filled with endless possibilities of God’s divine appointments.

Just like the disciples and followers of Jesus. When they woke up each day, they had no idea what lay before them. The woman at the well left her home at the noon time hour with an empty jug of water, but hours later she flew back into her village with her thirst quenched by the Living Water of Jesus Christ.

This is the possibility of our next 86,400 seconds.

The book “On the Way” will be on the way at the end of the year, but it is shaping up to be an amazing journey. I love meeting with Jesus through the eyes of the people He came in contact with. Now I have 86,400 seconds to write about them.