The circle keeps on turning.  Over the past two months I’ve keenly felt its spin.  After burying Wyndham’s dad in early fall I reflected how short a long life of 92 years really is in the scheme of time.  The scripture is so true in James 4:14
Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

A week ago I witnessed the dramatic birth  of my newest grandchild, who is aptly named “Grace”.  Though she tried mightily to make her debut much too early, God graciously answered “yes” to our pleas for her to stay put long enough to be healthy. I shared earlier the scripture from Jeremiah 29:11-13 that emboldened my spirit  as I watched this new life emerge.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. [12] Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. [13] You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

A few days ago my first-born turned 34….Hard to believe.  In many ways it seems like yesterday when I was 34, and yet in other ways it seems like ions ago.  So much of life has been lived and I look forward to the gift of each new day God gives me. Each day truly is a gift from God. Psalm 118:24
This is the day the Lord has made;
        let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Last week, as I shared a few days ago, we lost our dog, who was such a part of our family.  At 14 and a half, he had already outlived his life expectancy.  The circle of life keeps on spinning.  Sometimes it exhilarates my heart, and at other times it seems to break it into pieces.

When I keep the perspective that each day is a gift from God, full of opportunity to live out his purpose for my life, it affords a “joie de vivre” that will make a huge difference in my own quality of life as well as the impact I can have on those whose lives I touch.  I was moved by my Bible reading today as I read of David in Acts 13:22.
After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’    What a tribute to a man, though flawed, to be recorded for all history as a man after God’s own heart – doing everything God has planned for him.  I then read on to verse 36.
  “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. [37] But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

What a thing to be said about his life…..He “served God’s purpose in his generation”.  Simple, yet profound!  We certainly are not just bodies with souls inside.  We are souls created for a purpose that are surrounded by temporary bodies.  When we are born spiritually, these souls will live forever.  1 Peter 1:22-25.
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. [23] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. [24] For  “All men are like grass,
        and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
    the grass withers and the flowers fall, [25] but the word of the Lord stands forever.”
I pray to be about God’s purpose in my life today and each day.  I’m grateful that his word clarifies that purpose for me.  It is sometimes thrilling, sometimes scary, sometimes difficult….but it is always so right and always so good when God stays at the center of this spinning circle.