How Will I Fill In The Dash?

I can hear it now, what the heck is he talking about - the dash?  Yes, that hyphen that will be on the program at my funeral that shows the day you were born and the day you went to be with the Lord.  No, I am not getting morbid here.  I read the blog of a good friend this morning and it made me think along the same lines.  What am I going to do with the next 4.5 years before the unrequested AARP card shows up in the mail?

Just like it was yesterday, I remember when my aunt's card came in the mail and thinking she must really be old.   Like my good friend - I don't want to repeat the 30's - they were a reality check that kick you square in the mouth.  I had a very long discussion with God the other day about all of this.


It's funny, the program gives us a birth and death date with a dash in between the two.  It doesn't say anything about who you were as a person.  What impact you made on this world.  If you made a difference in anyone's life.  It doesn't list your accomplishments and then when you open the program - it give a very vague description of your life's journey.

The Message Bible says in Habakkuk 2:2-3 And then God answered: "Write this.write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. This vision-message is a witness pointing to what's coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie. If it seems slow in coming, wait.  It's on its way. It will come right on time.

I have been blessed with so many gifts and talents, yet I am sitting on them.  Why?  Is it laziness, apathy, procrastination, no zeal, no burning desire?  What is it?  I have no excuses when God promised in His Word that our gifts would make room for us.  He said that He would show us a more excellent way.  He said that our barns would be filled to overflowing and our vats would be running over.  If He said it, that settles it.  It took me a minute to get to this point, but I have finally arrived.  I have been on the bus far too long and I have reached my destination.  Driver pull over - I need to get off and get busy with the vision.  I feel like Sonny in Madea Goes To Jail - it's a clear day - land!!!!

I have been in the holding pattern for too many years trying to fight a battle that I can't win on my own.  This battle is not mine, it's the Lord's.  I am just hear to fight with Him. If the world isn't going to give me what I need, I need to make my own way.  It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention.  I live in Smalltown, U.S.A., and there are a lot things that we do not have here.  It's time to step up and be a part of the solution and not the problem.  I am going to make a trip back to SCORE and see what they can do to help me get started.

Yes, I have my good days and my bad days.  I tend to forget some things and my health is what it is.  BUT, GOD!!!!  When the lupus flairs up - I will say but God - has blessed me to wake up.  When the bills are passed due - but God has blessed me with a home.  When people get on my last nerve - but God has given me the same grace they deserve.  In spite of it all - but God!!!!!

I like the way Mary Mary said it:
I had enough heartache and enough headaches I've had so many ups and downs. Don't know how much more i can take. See i decided that i cried my last tear yesterday. Either i'm going to trust you or i may as well walk away 'cause stressing don't make it better, Don't make it better, no way. See i decided that i cried my last tear yesterday. Yesterday, i decided to put my trust in you. Yesterday, i realized that you will being me through. There ain't nothing to hard for my god, no. Any problems that i have He's greater than them all, so
I decided that i cried my last tear yesterday

So, how will I fill in the dash?  By being who I am supposed to be.  By being who I was created to be.  By having a heart of compassion.  I need ears that listen to what I hear. A heart that feels what others are going through.  A mind that can stay focused on the task at hand.  Living each day to the fullest.  Loving God, Loving People and Loving Myself. I will fill in the dash so that people will not have to guess what my life was all about.   I will genuinely care about each one of scouts and leaders, the youth at my church.  Take time to pray from the heart.  I need to finish writing a book that I started about god-parenting.  I need to use the gifts and talents God has blessed me with to make a living for my family.  I need to walk in my calling and preach in season and out of season.

Watch out world - I am going to take you by storm.  This is going to be a long dash.  Oh death where is your sting, oh grave you will not get the victory!!!!  I will be healed. I will have the victory.  I will make my life a song that needs to heard.

Thanks friend of mine.  You are a blessing from God.