All is Vanity

Derek and I posed a question to ourselves last night.

'If we knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it would there be anything we'd change?'

Its amazing the things that quickly become so unimportant when you put them in perspective. Our number one thing we'd do differently would be to read the Word more, learn the Word more and teach the Word to our kids more.
Another top thing would be to stop wasting time on the Internet. *confession* He doesn't as much as I do but we realized we just replaced TV with the Internet.
If anyone has been reading this blog since back in January you'll remember we did away with the TV for 3 main reasons. 1) We didnt want to spend the money on it anymore. Working towards becoming debt free makes you rethink the things you spend money on. 2) Whats on TV isnt what we want flowing into our home. Even if you just watching the 'harmless' things, like say preschool cartoons or documentaries, there are still commercials promoting lifestyles and values we dont want our kids being fed. So, why PAY for it to be in our home?! And finally 3) the time we'd spend watching TV in the evenings or on the weekends or even during the day was time spent away from spending time as a family together. (On a side note: not all TV is bad and if you choose to watch TV we dont think youre bad.....necessarily ;) )
But, we've realized the time we would have normally been spending watching a TV show we now spend online.....seperately (for the most part). So, we've gotten rid of one thing and replaced it with something different. Kinda defeats the purpose of that. So, wasting time online is another big thing we'd give the boot to if we knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it.
Some more things we listed were what we find value in. Things like clothes or eating out or spending money on things we want would be quickly thrown off the list. Its amazing the things we think that are important but quickly find unimportant when life changes.
Derek and I got new Bibles this past weekend. (I found small little ESV Bibles on sale at Family Bookstores this weekend so I could justify it. Besides we've been needing an ESV since thats what our church uses in corporate worship.) In these Bibes are a 1 year reading plan so we thought that would be a good thing to start reading together at nights. It would give us some direction in our reading. Something seperate besides family devotions.
So, last night Derek opened it up and read the passages it listed. Can I just say one of the sweetest sounds to my ears is hearing my husband read the Word to me and to our family! The Old Testiment reading was Prov. 31-Ecc.1. I think its funny how the Lord will direct you to exactly what you need to hear right at that moment. Lots of Christian women look to Prov 31 as a way to live. I've read it a million times but last night this stuck out in my mind:

27 She looks well to the ways of her household

and does not eat the bread of idleness.

The Lord has been dealing with me on wasting time and 'eating the bread of idleness' so to speak. How appropriate for that to be one of the scriptures we read!
Then on to Ecclesiastes 1. All is vanity. Wow. How true that everything is meaningless and pales in comparison to Jesus! Just reinforcing what Derek and I had been talking about! Our relationship and walk with God and extending His Kingdom is what our life should be about. Yet, we replace it and fill that need with stuff. Stuff to distract from what is really important.
God is so good and just continues to show us how real and powerful He is! I can't help but stand amazed at how He shows us how much He loves us. Just directing us to scriptures we need to hear is such a sweet gift!
So....I ask you to ponder this:

If you knew we only had a certain amount of time left with life as we know it would there be anything you'd change?
Shouldn't we be living everyday as though it were our last?