"You take the good. You take the bad. You take them both, and there you have the facts of life." I've always liked that opening line from the theme song to The Facts of Life. Of course, I'd like to keep the good and give the bad back to the network.
Apparently, that's not an option.
Our faith has taught me, though, that God is with us through both. Good days don't mean we've earned God's grace or approval. Bad days don't have to mean we've lost God's attention.
Psalm 90, introduced as a psalm of Moses, brings to mind the good and bad of a people wandering through the wilderness. They have known deliverance. They have also buried a lot of people they love.
So, the prayer gives us images of life's swiftness. A dream disappears, grass flourishes and fades (vss 5-6). It also brings to light questions about the people's sin and God's anger. Their whole troubled relationship with God is brought into this prayer.
And so they ask God to teach them to count their days (vs 12).
You and I probably count ours by checking our calendars. But a full calendar and a wise heart aren't the same thing. You can fill every hour and still miss God encounters right in front of you. You can spend today worrying about tomorrow, then wonder where the day went.
So, the psalmist recognizes a different way to approach the facts of life. It's learning to be satisfied with and by God's steadfast love. In God's love, we can rejoice, be glad, and our lives can be filled with God's purpose.
That means before we know whether the day is going to be good or bad, we learn to let God's love be enough to begin with and to sustain us.
So, pause long enough today to remember that you are loved by God. And let that reminder help shape the day, whatever facts of life it brings.
Stay blessed...john
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