How long does one have to live to indicate that one's life has been long enough? Three score years and ten seems such a short time to experience the value of human existence. When life, however, is filled with trouble and sorrow, every year is an eternity. The meaning of our days is measured not so much by numbers as by character. The quality of our existence is of far greater significance than the quantity of our years.

What we learn is far superior to what we earn. How we love always has more value than how we hate. Humility reduces our anxiety while pride frustrates our ambition. Trust is soothing while suspicion creates tension. Forgiveness contributes to harmony while revenge creates chaos. Life that is lived in the context of grace will provide us with emotional and spiritual health that is necessary for productive living. Even if we are clever, yet hostile, we will never know the peace of Godly wisdom. If we develop a cantankerous spirit, everything in life will be a tedious event. There is no way to enjoy constructive living when we allow life to deteriorate into a battleground.

Life was intended to be happy as well as challenging, and only God can make it so. Some folk live the entirety of their years without making so much as a footnote on the pages of human progress. Others, however, in a short span of unselfish living, contribute volumes to the history of those who did their best with what they had. Our Lord lived but a brief thirty-three years, but it will take eternity to reveal the full impact of His coming.

Some people are like beautiful flowers which bloom for a short duration yet leave behind a compelling fragrance. What a difference it makes when our lives are committed to truth, beauty and goodness rather than deceit and discontent. Perhaps the most pertinent question is not how long we live but how well we live. The gospel of grace reminds us that at any moment we can turn from hurt to health, from negative to positive and from sin to salvation. Only a God of such love allows us the opportunity to begin this day as the first day of the rest of our beautiful lives.