Walk Circumspectly

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Ephesians 5:15-16

 “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”  Soren Kierkegaard

“An unexamined life is not worth living.”  Socarates

There's nothing like a New Year to help recalibrate all the loose ends of your life.  However you need not wait for a new year to start on a new you!  We can thank God for the circular motion of the hands on a clock that mark seconds, the revolutions of the earth on its axis that constitute days, and the orbits around the Sun that create seasons and years.  These are all constant reminders that we can pause, ponder, and then proceed to do a new thing, with better preparation, programming, and planning right now, rather than later, because you  have taken the time to reflect.

  If there is one thing a fool is guilty of, it is a lack of introspection, a failure to reflect. Life is too short and time is too valuable to have a series of synonymous seasons of self-inflicted nonsense (sin).  You owe it to yourself and to all those you love to only suffer from the pain of any single mistake one time.  A fool will return to his folly.  He will major in repeat performances.  He will not self-correct.  It grieves me when I think of the things the younger generation is rushing to get into, that we are tirelessly trying to keep them out of, because they fail to value the expertise and the time their elders have taken to reflect on certain situations in life. You can literally lengthen your life by learning lessons from the mistakes of others.

When they surveyed people who had lived over 100 years, they discovered that: 1. Investing more in personal relationships. 2. Reading more and 3.  Reflecting more were among the major things they would have done differently.  The bible tells us to walk circumspectly, to reexamine, re-imagine, to take notice of things, to think about things, to consistently and cautiously concentrate or consider things, to reflect, review, reason, reevaluate, and then make the necessary adjustments in life and to our living.  Today you have a newly deposited 86,400 seconds.  Give some back to God.  Invest some in your family and loved ones.  Take some and dedicate it to work and creativity.  Use some to read a book.  But don't discard the rest.  Save some by giving time to reflection.

“Reflection is a rich and rewarding resource for the redeemed.”  Robert L. Lyons