Have you ever thought that after you die, you will almost certainly be forgotten, sooner or later? That the knowledge of your existence will be, as the Psalmist put it, like 'a cloud that dissipates in the wind'?
Our own memories also go with us: the relationships we enjoyed, the places we visited, the things we did, the shame and guilt of our misdemeanours.
When I am gone, will I be missed? When I am gone, what of lasting value will remain? What raw materials for building 'an eternal dwelling' (you know Paul's list - gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble) will I take with me from this life? One thing I'd like is to have my name in God's 'Book of Remembrance' (look up Malachi 3:16).
The past continues to be lived, forever. Past words and thoughts and deeds continue to be said and thought and done forever, when 'time will be no more'. Our lives are more than 'footprints on the sand', only to be washed away in the next rising tide.
Life is brief, uncertain, like a shadow, like a flower that blooms and fades, like a cloud... So teach me Lord to 'count my days that I may gain a wise heart' (Psalm 90:12). Amen.
As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. Psalm 103:15,16.
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