Monday, April 4, 2011

to be full of days

i picked up my bible last night, and watched as it fell open to the book of job. then my eyes fell on a description of the man. the man who was tested and tried. who stayed true to his faith in the midst of unspeakable loss. the bible describes him as a man "full of days." i read the verse slowly and thought about it. what it means to be full of days. full of minutes, seconds. moments and events. about life as a noun. a collection of interactions. of sunrises and evenings. coffee in the mornings and the blue light of nighttime television. if we really tried, life can be contained and sorted. organized and laid out in a domino-like procession.

but it's also a devastatingly beautiful assembly of the in-between. the kisses under the covers with the lamplight on. sunshine sifting through car windows at a red light. a silent hug. a hot cup of tea at three in the afternoon.

there are experiences that simply don't fit into the schema of "days." yes, monday is a workday. but it's also the one day a week i get to cook for robert. the evening we take a walk. free movie code day at redbox. but so often, all i see is the workday, and fail to see the outlying grace that falls just outside the definition.

job lived 140 years. if i'm lucky, i'll live a little over half of that. and i want to reach the end of my life full of days. but more than that, so much more than that, i want to be full of life.

i don't think i'll ever live long enough to absorb the resplendence of this earth. but little by little, i can learn to squeeze the most out of my time here. to restructure my week from seven distinct time frames into thousands of little joys. it will happen slowly. but as job reminded me, most good things usually do take some time.

13 comments:

Amanda Moury said...

You never cease to amazing me with your writing! gah! I absolutely love it! Not only that but that picture envokes this feeling in me that I need to get to the beach, like now.

kate said...

this was such a breath of fresh air. thank you dear for your lovely inspiring words :)

Dee Paulino said...

I have read job's story so many times but never picked up on that detail of what it means to be described as having a man full of days. This is brilliant.

Amber said...

i always feel better after reading your posts...they calm me down in a way. Thank you for that :)

charla beth said...

this was incredible--exactly what i needed to hear.

the "outlying grace" sentence is what struck me the most. that outside of the monday through friday, there are all kinds of beautiful little moments to be appreciated, savored, cherished. because the moments of this week will never again be repeated.

thank you for the reminder of Job. to "squeeze the most" out of every moment, as you said. i hope you do that this week and that you have a blessed one.

Unknown said...

brilliant and beautiful. I look forward to your posts. This was so encouraging.

Piril Maria said...

Amazing! =)



Love,
http://thebookness.blogspot.com

Shay said...

This made my day;-) I love the story of Job!

Nicole Dianne said...

"i can learn to squeeze the most out of my time here. to restructure my week from seven distinct time frames into thousands of little joys"

what an amazing line. thank you for sharing what you learned from the book of Job. it's one of my favorites. i also liked that you wrote about all of the reasons your monday is a GOOD day, too. i think we focus so much on the negative in our life we should stop and appreciate the warm cup of coffee or fresh spring air.

wonderful post :)

Kaylia Payne said...

Wow..how is it that you always post exactly what I need to hear? This was wonderful. It's those wonderful little in-between moments that we remember and cherish.

Tiffany said...

As always, your blog is right on. You always make me think! Thanks so much for sharing.

~Tiffany

Unknown said...

I come visit your blog daily, I don't always get a chance to comment but somedays your words just speak to me your post plays with my heart strings.

Brandi said...

I need to be more full of days. Life will always challenge and try us, but it's all the moments -- the big ones and little ones -- that make it so beautiful.

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