Don't Blink

“So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Psalm 90:12


Here is something to celebrate! Today Tim and Michelle have been married ten years. Michelle is my sister in law and she is one of the strongest people I know. I have watched her face some of life’s most difficult challenges with courage and grace. She reminds me in many ways of a jingle from a 1970’s commercial for a children’s toy back when I was a kid that said, “Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down” due to her ability with God’s help to keep standing strong regardless of what life throws at her.

Tim and Michelle’s anniversary is special for many reasons. First, ten years is a long time, a decade and a milestone in and of itself. Life isn’t easy and marriage has its challenges but Tim and Michelle look more like newlyweds even after ten years. Second, Tim and Michelle’s anniversary this year is special because they don’t take their life together for granted like many of us do. They don’t live their life any longer with a, “some day” mentality believing that somewhere in the future when the kids are all grown and gone and they are retired that they will then enjoy life together. No, on the contrary, they are seeking to live life to the fullest each day with the understanding they don’t have the promise of tomorrow. You see, my brother in law Tim has advanced bone cancer that the doctors have said there is no cure for.

In seeking to live life to the fullest I had the pleasure this week of helping Tim and Michelle renew their wedding vows before our family and their friends since when they got married they didn’t have everyone there to witness their special day. What I loved about their renewal ceremony was the understanding they both have of the promise they had made to each other. So aware now of the fragility of life and the meaning “until death do us part” they realized maybe for the first time that no matter what regarding the outcome of Tim’s cancer, they were certain their marriage to one another would end in victory. There is no quit in them and with deep deep satisfaction and meaning they concluded their vows with a promise, “all the days of my life”.

What Tim and Michelle’s marriage reminded me and our family this week is that it’s not so much how you start that matters most in life but rather how you finish. Like every couple finds out, marriage truly is for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, and in sickness and in health and their marriage has experienced them all, and like I said, they are still standing strong and we couldn’t be more proud of them. As they stood before God renewing their vows to one another they had a confident assurance in their eyes knowing they were going to make it to the end. Their marriage would be one for the record books, a marriage that will go down as a success. God had brought them this far and they know now as they walk through yet another “valley of the shadow of death” that God is with them still and will be there to bring them safely to the other side.

In marriage we were never promised forever, this moment is all we may ever find and the couples who enjoy married life most live with this awareness. Tim and Michelle understand that life isn’t best measured by years but by moments and enjoying the moments they have left is what they are seeking to do. My hope and prayer for them is God blesses them with many many more. Remember loved one, it’s not so much how you start, it’s how you finish in life that counts. Don’t put off living, maximize the moments knowing this moment might just be all we ever find. Remember, life isn’t measured by the number of breaths we take but rather by the moments that take our breath away!

Thinking of Tim and Michelle today a song comes to mind. I think you will get it when you read the lyrics to it. Its titled, “Don’t Blink” and it goes like this…

I turned on the evening news
Saw an old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today
Asked him what's the secret to life?
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said, "All I can say is
Don't blink, just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink, you just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years
Goes faster than you think, so don't blink

I was glued to my TV, when it looked
Like he looked at me and said
"Best start putting first things first"
'Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth
Don't blink, 'cause just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink, you just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years
Goes faster than you think, so don't blink

So I've been trying to slow it down
I've been trying to take it in
In this 'here today, gone tomorrow' world we're living in
So don't blink, 'cause just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
Don't blink, you just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half
Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years
Goes faster than you think, so don't blink

No, don't blink
Don't blink
Life goes faster than you think
So don't blink
Life goes faster than you think
Don't blink
Don't blink
Life goes faster than you think (song ends)



“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor.”


Ecclesiastes 4:9


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