Encouragement

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As I walked into the skilled nursing facility where I was Assistant Director of Nurses, I heard the charge nurses arguing over who would get which nurse's aide that morning. It was a Saturday after party night on Friday. That means that every able body from the housekeeping staff to the Director of Nurses would be making beds, getting residents up and fed due to the staff shortage.

My friend and neighbor, Dawn, who worked there too saw my frustration at the lack of help. My sweet sister in the Lord came up to me gently touching my elbow saying "What really will matter 100 years from now?

Oh, dear. Before Jesus I had been like those girls who called in sick. I partied too much and certainly wasn't thinking of my patients or supervisor when I called in because I was hung over. And these girls needed Jesus. That didn't fix the staffing shortage but it certainly gave me a new perspective that day.

Over the years that one little question has stuck with me. In many situations the Lord will bring back Dawn's gentle face posing that incredible question "What really matters 100 years from now?"

When our last word is written, when our last breath is drawn, there is only one thing that will matter. It will not be our money or lack thereof. It will not be what we accomplished or who we were related to. The only thing which will count will be how we responded to the incredible gift Jesus Christ offered us.

Did we ask Him forgiveness and allow Him to make us anew? Because that is the only thing in this life which will really matter a hundred years from now.

In Matthew 16:26 the Bible asks us what good is it if a man gains the whole world and loses his soul and what can a man give in exchange for his soul. This scripture seems to focus on what really does matter “100 years from now”. So often we get caught up in the cares of the world to the exclusion of looking at the eternal. Yes, we have to pay the rent, taxes, groceries and clean the house but there are definitely things which surpass that.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 speaks to God making all things beautiful in its time and that He has set eternity in the hearts of men, that man cannot fathom what God has done beginning to end. I am thrilled to find out that He is concerned with beauty. Also, that He has placed eternity in our hearts so we can and do see something beyond the here and now. There is much our finite minds cannot understand but we can look forward to spending the time to learn and grow with Jesus.

(C) Marijo Phelps all rights reserved. Use with proper credits.

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