Friday, January 14, 2022

Five Minutes Of Determine

Trying my hand at Five Minute Friday today, a weekly link up hosted by Kate Motaung. She posts a one word prompt and we write for five minutes flat, no editing or overthinking, ahem. 

Today's prompt-determine

I was thinking about my dad this week, specifically about the year he died. Hubs and I were living about two hours north of my parents back then and our girls were toddlers. I was in a Bible Study that year, with a group of women from my church, and I had so many questions about the particular book we were using as one of our resources. 

My dad wasn't a big talker but I would call home every week and ask his take on the theology presented in whatever chapter had been discussed that Tuesday morning. Was it right or off base? Does it line up with what I've always believed and if not help me understand. Explain it to me. Tell me what you think it means. 

A small sweet memory that stays mostly tucked into the corner of my head and heart. 

My dad died young, only a few years older than I am right now. When I saw today's word I thought of the verse in Job (14:5) that says, -"A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." 

Or as the Living Translation puts it-""You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer." 

God determines my days. He decides. A lot or a little. The amount doesn't always make sense to my human mind, but I know He doesn't make mistakes. That His ways are higher than mine. That while He's given me some number of days, I determine how they're filled. 

Nearly 30 years have come and gone since we last hung up the phone. The world has grown and groaned and turned into something he probably wouldn't recognize in 2022. I've grown too, partly due to the wisdom that comes with aging, but also in large part due to study. Years and years of reading and asking questions and holding everything up next to God's word to see if it fits. 

How I'd love an icy cold Birch Beer and a chat with my dad today, about the deep and mysterious workings of God. 

8 comments:

  1. You have such a way with words Joyce. I'm sure your Dad would be proud.

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  2. Well done! Your post is especially poignant for me right now. I don't need to say much more. Just well done! xo

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  3. This is lovely! I've been comforted by that thought that God knows the number of my days. And my husband's days, and my kids' days . . . I especially love the reminder you've added that I must determine how those days are filled.

    FMF#27

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  4. The days we have are numbered
    by God, and only He;
    our paths here will be sundered
    when we meet destiny,
    and so it behooves the soul
    to make merry and make well
    before we hear the measured toll
    of the closing bell,
    and take with us the joys we've saved
    to share on Heaven's streets of gold,
    and to leap beyond the grave
    in that place where none are old
    with the happiness we've stored
    to dance, like David, 'fore the Lord.

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  5. Oh I used to love Birch Beer too! Ice cold was the best.

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  6. As always your writing is perfect. Your dad is loving this post. It's hard when they pass young. ((HUGS))
    In March my mom will be gone 40 years. My dad's passing, just weeks after the lock down in 2020 was definitely a blessing for him. He could never have lived through this.

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  7. So good to hold everything up against the Truth of the Scripture. How special to be able to bounce things off your dear dad like that. Wonderful exercise on determine. Well said!

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  8. I was curious to see what the translation of Job 14:5 is in the Bible I use, which is the Revised Standard Version-Second Catholic Edition: Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass,"
    And the New American Bible Revised Edition (Catholic) is the same for the first part but the end is "you have fixed the limit which he cannot pass". Interesting.
    What a great memory of talking to your dad about what was talked about in Bible Study. I have a similar memory with my dad. :)

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