Evan Esar once said, “You can’t do anything about the length of your life. But you can do something about its width and depth.” I like that. None of us know how many days we have remaining. It’s not our call. But what we do with each of those days is within our hands. Every day we choose to pass the time or impact it. In and of itself, there is nothing remarkable about a long life. At best, it’s interesting. But a life lived well is something truly remarkable.
I want to live a life rich in width and depth. The length doesn’t matter so much to me. Like Paul, I can say if I live, I’ll live for Christ, but if I die, I’ll be with Him (Philippians 1:21). I have a lot to look forward to. Delaying that sweet reward isn’t exactly in my best interest.
It has been said there are defining moments in each of our lives. I submit there are no undefining moments. Every moment we live defines us in one way or another. Our life and our legacy will be a reflection of the accumulation of the moments it contains. None should be wasted. The worst part about this is it is exhausting to maintain the discipline and focus to bring everything we have to each moment we’re alive. Perhaps it gets easier with practice. I’ll have to let you know on that one because I’m nowhere near such a point.
The best part is how we live each moment has been left up to us to decide. This has not been predefined. We have the free will to decide how we will impact this moment and the one to follow. When we get tired, we can simply hand that moment over to Christ. He’ll know what to do with it. In fact, I have full confidence He will bless the moment we choose to let it all go and trust in Him. This is how we rest. It is how we sustain the ability to bring our best to every moment we are given to steward.
Rather than go long, we need to focus on going deep and wide. As we dive deep into the character of God, He will broaden our ability to love and serve. Doing this allows us to glorify Him which is His will for your life and mine.
Don’t worry about the length of your life. There’s little you can do about it anyway. We all know or have heard of people who appear perfectly healthy who succumb to a heart attack or cancer at an early age. Sin has spoiled the perfection of God’s creation. There is no longer a perfect order to things. Instead, focus on living your life deep and wide. Each moment is an opportunity to widen your circle of love and deepen your commitment to obediently surrender everything to Jesus. When your life ends, the number of your days will not matter; only how you used the moments within those days.