Teach Us to Number our Days

by Regin Reyno

I just finished watching the movie called "The Bucket List" starring award-winning actors Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. It's about  two cancer patients who was given just 6 months to live. Upon knowing that, they started to list the things that they need to do before they die and started doing it.

The list includes:
1. sky diving
2. kiss the most beautiful girl on earth
3. help a complete stranger
4. fly over the north pole
5. eat dinner at Chev'd ore in France
6. visit and praise the beauty of Taj Mahal
7. ride a motorcycle on the Great Wall of China
8. attend a lion safari in Africa
9. visit the base of Mt. Everest in Nepal 
10. witness something majestic
11. behold the majestic pyramids in Egypt
12. laugh 'til you cry
13. drive a Ford Shelby 
14. go to Hong Kong
15. get a tattoo  

It is a great travel movie that featured places I want to go. But most importantly, what struck me was the realization of the brevity of life. We live here on earth on borrowed time, and we don't know when will be our last breath.

"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth." Proverbs 27:1. 

Other than making me realize the brevity of life, this movie also reminded me of the verse in the Bible which says, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Psalms 90:12. 

The Lord is telling us that, our days here on Earth is short. So may it be that we will be able to realize it and spend it wisely most especially on the important things, like relationships.

In the movie, one of the cancer patients, Edward Cole, is millionaire. Despite his millions, it was only then-when he got sick-did he made a step to enjoy life. As a result, he was able to see the world, enjoy, and realized the wonderful meaning of relationships.

In this busy world where lots of people are preoccupied with working hard, making money, sacrificing time for money, and saving for the future-which we are not even sure if we will be alive by then-this is a realization to us that what we have now is the present, and we must treasure it because our days here on Earth are numbered. 

So travel more, take care of relationships, spend time with your love ones each day, stop and smell the roses, take time to watch the sunset, invest in eternal things and not on temporary things, be a blessing to others, and most importantly, spend it serving the Lord and striving to connect with Him each day. 



Quote from the movie: "My pastor always says our lives are streams flowing into the same river towards whatever heaven lies in the mist beyond the falls. Find the joy in your life, Edward. My dear friend, close your eyes and let the waters take you home." -Carter Chambers (portrayed by Morgan Freeman)