A resolution to just be

This is the time of year when men and women across our region will be resolving how 2008 will be different from 2007. They will be vowing to avoid the varieties of evils by which they have been plagued and afflicted. They will be vowing to eat more, read less and spend more money than earned (or something like that).

Scripture encourages each of us to make the best of our time and see that the whole of our lives are more than the moments we attempt to seize. The cascading avalanche of momentary living leaves with a whole life that is detached of purpose and intent. When Moses, the servant of God who led the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt, approached the final scene of his life, he composed these words, "So teach us to number our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom."

The gentle but firm reality in these words is that we each have a number of days. Just a few lines before that, Moses writes that we each have 70 years; with strength, 80. Each of us know those who have lived longer and those whose lives were cut short. Yet the rich and the poor each meet the same end. When the game is over, all the pieces go back in the box.

This line shows us that our lives are to be presented before the Lord. Our lives are not only a gift given but also a gift to be presented. The top of God's wish list is your heart. In the same way you joyfully but painstakingly work to find the perfect gift for the one you love, so it is to present your heart to him.

This psalm also shows us that the gift to be presented is a heart of wisdom. The heart is the core of who we are and who we want to be. Wisdom is not equivalent to intellect any more than it is to passion or productivity. Wisdom as described elsewhere in scripture is the when, who, what, how and why of living a life that honors the Lord.

This next year do not just resolve to be better, but resolve to be. Be a renewed gift full of wisdom. Be one who is learning to leverage each day in light of the whole.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father and serves as the associate pastor at the First Baptist Church in Jackson.