God's Provision

It's Tuesday . . . quite late.
But I am following the challenge for Tuesday . . .  offered in my other blog.
We are invited to remember and give thanks for three of God's provisions.
God provides everything . . .  especially the ability for me to breathe . . . but my mind lingers elsewhere.

God provided just enough time for Jesus to complete his life on earth.
Time.
Limited,
finite,
calculated . . . just enough.

Jesus had limited, finite, calculated . . . just enough time to teach the twelve  to understand the events that would happen at the end of this week.
It's the last Tuesday that Jesus would spend on this earth.

My time is also finite.
I do not know how much time I have on this earth but I do know I only have
 24 hours each day,
 7 days per week,
52 weeks per year . . .
I have been given this gift for MANY years.
What have I done with it?
I have slept through one-third of it.
I have spun through a part of it.
I have wasted much of it.
I pray I have used wisely the rest.
Only God knows.
Time.
A precious gift . . . given to me . . .  whether I deserve it or not.

Second, God provided me with the use of all my senses.
It's an incredible gift.
Many are not given this gift.
I can see . . .
perhaps not perfectly . . .
but the gift makes me speechless.
For that matter, the ability to speak and hear what I say may be far more pleasing to me than anyone who might listen.

To smell what I see and taste without looking, is beyond comprehension.
When I read of Jesus' last days on this earth, all my senses are activated as if I were there.
 That's hard.
 I don't want to walk to the Cross with him.
But that's how I understand God's best provision for me.

Thus, the third gift God gave me is His presence . . . forever.
According to God's Word, I can take it or leave it.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God . . . not the result of works so that no one may boast" [ Ephesians 2:8,9]
I can accept this . . .  or not.
For years I chose "not".
But then I spent time . . .
lots of time . . .
reading . . .
listening . . .
meditating . . .
letting God's words touch my heart . . .
gaining a taste for eternal life . . .
trying to understand what God was showing me.

God's gifts led me to the greatest gift I could ever know.
And it's only Tuesday.