No Other Rock

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. ~ Psalm 90:12

Today, my daughter Stella was baptized. Pastor Glen had asked Jenny and me to pick a scripture that we wanted to read for the day. He said it didn’t necessarily have to relate to baptism and that it should be more about Stella and what we want for her life.

This proved to be much more of a challenge than we anticipated and we soon found ourselves looking on the Internet for a little bit of a kick start. After a while, we finally decided upon Psalm 90:12. It is the same verse that begins this post.

It may be a bit confusing why this one was chosen, and I tried to explain the reasoning to the congregation. Not sure how well I did because I was basically winging it – plus, I didn’t want to try and turn my daughter’s baptism into an impromptu mini-sermon (a pastor I am not!). But here is why it was selected.

There are two parts to the scripture. The first reminds us that our days on this earth are numbered. Our lives are works in progress, or pages of a book if you will. Each day, we start fresh with a clean page. Just as our sins are wiped clean through Christ, every day is a new day. When we wake up, we have no idea what the day will bring.

Just like a book has chapters, so too do our lives. There are eras or great goodness and prosperity and there are times of massive struggle. Some of those chapters of our lives are shorter and some are longer – but as we live them, they become part of our fabric; who we are.

In fact, every day, we write the book (what a great song, right?). And once it is written, it’s there. You can go back and refer to it, remember it and reflect. You may have moments of your life that are underlined three times, written in bold print and vivid in your mind. But you cannot go back in time and change things. Likewise, you can’t skip ahead and find out what’s coming. The only moment you have any potential for control is the now.

In my mind, this is where the second part of the passage comes into play. To have a heart of wisdom is to have Christ in your heart.

Stella is going to carry out her life. I, as a parent, can hope to aim her in certain directions and teach her right from wrong. I can be an example. But ultimately, she is going to write her own pages, chapters and live out her own life.

The greatest hope I have for her is not wealth, greatness or fame. It’s that latter part of the passage that I hope to see my children adopt into their lives. I pray that Jenny and I – with the help of our family and church body – can instill that heart of wisdom in Stella. I pray the same for Daphne.

With that framework, no matter what they craft on that clean and fresh page, I have the assurance that they are performing God’s will. I will know that as they write their books, they will be tomes of great wisdom that are worth reading. No agents, publishers, media representatives or distributors will be necessary.

If God sees fit, he’ll take care of any and all of that on His own.