If you’ve marked a birthday, studied for final exams, gotten married, had a baby, or celebrated Christmas, then you’ve “numbered your days.” You probably didn’t call it that, but you knew exactly how many shopping days, study days, or single days you had left until the big event. In today’s verse from Proverbs, Moses is asking God to help us live every day with the kind of clarity we get when we’re under a deadline—“teach us to number our days.” When Christmas is just three days away and you still have gifts to buy, you don’t lounge on the couch watching holiday movies. You have higher priority things to do. Knowing that your time is limited forces you to limit what you do with your time. There will always be events to attend, projects to tackle, committees to join, trips to take, and errands to run. And fear will whisper that you better do it all or you’ll come up short. But numbering your days is like running all those demands for your time through a filter. It’s a way to prioritize the people and tasks that matter most. The committee you were guilt-tripped into joining? Doesn’t make the cut. The work trip that will keep you away from your kids all week? No for now. When we begin to see our time as limited, we can wisely decide what, or more importantly who, is worth our limited time. Moses says that we will “gain a heart of wisdom.” If you’re overscheduled, overcommitted, or overwhelmed, try numbering your days. Acknowledge that (even though you hope to live for decades more) your time is limited, so you must limit what you do with your time. I promise, applying that filter will give you the breathing room you’ve been craving on your calendar. Tomorrow we’ll look at a similar filter that can help you bring breathing room to your finances. In the meantime, ask yourself: What’s one role or task that I no longer want to spend my limited time on?
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