Control

There are a few truths we too often "forget."

We are not in control of time. You cannot add one moment to your life. Those tomorrows you're counting on, don't. You know,"Tomorrow I'm going to give my life over to the Lord." "Tomorrow I'm going to start giving to the poor, the needy widow in my church, the orphans of the world--just after I buy one more thing for myself that I don't need . . ." When you have all the money you think you could ever need, you will still have absolutely nothing of value--unless you use it to be rich toward God. And since you can't send your resources to Heaven, where do you think He wants you to use them?
We are not in control of our strength or our ability. Those, too, can be lost in an instant. Or they can daily decrease. I readily confess that I don't have nearly the strength or stamina that I used to have to work on the Acres as when I first moved here less than a decade ago. And I can think of many a person who in an instant lost their strength and abilities. Can't you?
We are not in control of the outcomes of our choices--ever our choices to serve Him. He is in control of those. Good thing, too. What I think is best is often not even close. And He is always doing marvelous things in the lives of those people I was convinced would never be of any use to Him in the furtherance of the Kingdom.

How should these truths impact us? Today is the day. This moment is the moment. Putting off what you know you should do is a fool's decision. Know someone who needs help? Know someone whom you need to say "thank you" to? Know someone who needs a word of encouragement or exhortation or edification. Do it now. To count on a tomorrow to do it is sin.
Have gifts and abilities that God has given you? Use them--while you can. While you have the God-given strength to serve Him, get busy. Be diligent. You don't want to find yourself in an "I wish I had" moment.
Putting expectations on God--and on those He has called you to minister to? Stop. Be faithful and leave the life-changing in the hands of the One who can make permanent changes in the lives of those He has called you to minister to. Get out of the way of God's timing. Don't be a stumbling block. Quit thinking you're smarter and wiser than God. And more loving. Can you say "arrogance?"
Be continually, daily, moment by moment thankful. Thank Him for each day. Thank Him for the abilities He has given you. Thank Him for the strength He has given you to use those abilities. Thank Him for the place He has put you so that you can use those abilities. Thank Him that He can be trusted to work in the lives of those whom He has called you to serve--that He will lovingly transform them into the disciples He needs, when He needs them, where He needs them.

Your time is God's. Your abilities are God's. Your fruit is God's--you are a distributor, not a manufacturer. If you and I will embrace these truths, then we can say unwaveringly, "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"