I Guess I’m Not Finished Yet

Uncategorized 4 Minutes

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. – Philippians 1:21

In anticipating my 70th birthday, I kept remembering there was a verse in Scripture that said Man’s life span is 70 years. I took that to mean 70 years is what we might reasonably expect to live, and every day beyond that is “bonus” – not that any of us is guaranteed tomorrow at any age …

Leaving this world is not a morbid thought to me. I have believed in heaven for so long I don’t remember ever not believing in it, and the more stuff that goes wrong (or inconvenient) in my body, the more I look forward to getting a new one. It was a couple of decades ago when I first heard Point of Grace sing, “I’m not unhappy, but I’d take the train today if You’d let me,”* Even then I already understood the sentiment. I look forward to leaving this world, not because my life here has been horrible – It has, for the most part, been wonderful! But I know that the next life will be even more wonderful, so I have nothing to fear.

During the pandemic I felt bad for the people who seemed consumed with fear. I personally stayed sane by repeatedly reminding myself that I wasn’t going to leave this world one moment before the Lord was ready to call me home, and I didn’t want to stick around one moment longer than He wanted me to! This outlook (divine perspective?) was a great source of peace to me, and I believe that peace (lack of stress) did, in fact, help keep me healthy. I did think at times that I shared the sentiment with Woody Allen, that “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”

Shortly after that milestone birthday, as I was congratulating myself on being “in the home stretch,” as it were, a young man in our church announced that his grandmother had just died. She had been a godly woman, serving the Lord all her life, right up to the time she died – at the age of 104! The realization that I might be only 2/3 of the way there shook me out of my complacency. If it turned out I was going to be around that much longer, clearly God had other plans for me besides coasting to the finish line.“

Give me a mission if I’ve still got the time, ’cause I’m open …”*

So, in taking inventory, I am considering what the Lord might have for me yet to do, and the list seems to be getting longer, not shorter! This comes as a surprise to me, and not an unpleasant one, considering a few years ago my biggest fear was that I would someday run out of dreams. Now I have enough goals to keep me busy, enough that I’ve been thinking I’d take 2024 off from blogging – a “Sabbath year” of sorts – and free up some time for making the rest of my published books into audiobooks, publishing a study guide for BARRIERS, designing the cover for Satan’s Worst Nightmare, getting that book published, making it into an audiobook, and taking my sister’s suggestion of publishing my blog as a devotional book, or organizing them into my “memoirs,” – or both.

I would have thought those were enough to keep me busy, but things that have happened serendipitously along the way have been more than I would have expected. (I guess I’ll be writing “New Experiences – at MY Age?! Part II” soon.)

I had been wanting to share with my readers some of the songs from the songwriting season of my life in the 80’s and early 90’s. However, all I had were demo CDs, made in a recording studio, which I needed help just to copy and mail to people, never mind getting them into “the Cloud” or other high-tech feat. (I know, the younger readers are probably laughing right now at this dinosaur.)

All that to say, recently this Nanasaurus asked one of the sound technicians at our church, to help get my songs where I could access and share them digitally. Within a few short minutes he had uploaded (or was it downloaded? whatever…) my songs to something called SoundCloud. He showed me how to share the links, and I thought that was that.

After I got home, I went to check my emails before heading for bed. I had been deleting and marking as “spam” the clutter, and my inbox had just started to get manageable. But now suddenly I was getting a whole new genre of emails, notifying me that one of my songs had been “liked” half an hour after it had been uploaded/downloaded. Someone else was contacting me to see if I wanted him to help me get another one of my songs onto a platform where it would be seen(heard) by a few thousand more people. And a young lady in an exotic but unknown place had fallen in love with my anniversary song. In the next 5 hours she commented 13 times that she loved the beat, it gave her “high energy,” she wanted to dance all night, she had the song in her head, she was getting a good workout, and she felt like she was in the middle of a big celebration! (Marty didn’t get that excited about that song – and I wrote it for him!)

And oh yes, I now had a follower already.

I read all the messages, blinked, and burst out laughing.

So, now that I may be spending way less time blogging, suddenly the songs I once spent a decade of my life trying to get published are “out there,” and I apparently have another “platform.”

So, I could be wrong, but I’m thinking if God wants me to do all that, I may be around a little longer.

… I’d better get busy.

Prayer: Father, thank You for never leaving me without purpose, goals, and dreams. And thank You for life’s surprises that were never on my radar, but if they had been, would have been dreams. And thank You for the promise of heaven, which is wonderful beyond any of my dreams. Help me keep my eyes on You until I finish the race, in Jesus’ name, amen.

* “Day by Day” Point of Grace 2003

Published by seekingdivineperspective

I am a forgiven sinner and adopted child of God, seeking to see life from His perspective - as opposed to the world's flawed perspective - and living my life accordingly.

Published

43 thoughts on “I Guess I’m Not Finished Yet”

  1. Congratulations on the songs and happy soon birthday, Annie!

    I tell people don’t feel as if you are pressed for time because you actually have all of eternity. So much dashing about these days, everyone in hurry to get all the things done. Stop and smell the roses and don’t fret over all the unfinished projects. It’s all good!

    I like the guy who pulled out a long rope with a little piece of tape in the end of it. That’s our earthly life, the tiny inch at the end, and that little speck is the troubles we are currently facing that often seem so big, so huge. The rest of that rope is eternity, ours, thanks to Jesus. I have no idea what it will look like but we are really eternal creatures with all the time in the world!

    Like

    Reply

    1. Amen, Gabrielle! I am confident I will have all the time I need to accomplish whatever HE wants me to in this life. So, I’m not rushed, I just know I shouldn’t sit around waiting for the end. (Not that I’ve ever been good at sitting still. 😏🙄) What I can do is get up every morning knowing He has something meaningful for me to do with the resources He’s given me – time, strength, energy, creativity, contacts, etc. And that’s enough. No stress, just happy energy. 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. I hadn’t heard that song before, Ann, and I like it. Congrats on your old songs starting to find a new audience! Regarding fear and heaven: two of my favorite topics. I wrote something about heroism yesterday which is related to fear.

    Like

    Reply

  4. You’re such an inspiration. New hopes and dreams in our 70s, 80s and 90s? I’ll take it!!! Yes, God is definitely using you still. Please don’t take a blogging sabbatical.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Aww… Thanks. I may start re-posting some of my pieces that have been well received in years past, when a lot of my present followers didn’t know me. We’ll see.
      Or maybe I can get someone else to do the cooking and laundry and cleaning and grocery shopping, and I’ll have time to keep blogging and do all the other stuff, too. 😏

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. I would love to hear your songs. I have written a few songs too, but none of them were ever recorded. I was so dreading turning 70, but it was my best birthday by far, thanks to a lovely long Zoom video call with precious loved ones. So far, seventy is SUPER!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. Your blog made me think of an account of a devout young man who was terminally ill. On the night the medical staff expected him to die, he didn’t. He became so excited about soon being with Jesus that he miraculously healed. So, I can see you living to 104! Good luck with all your projects, Ann.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. So wonderful Annie. May your songs reach many more and I wish you the best in getting your books published. Although I must say I will miss you when you take time off your blog.

    Like

    Reply

      1. Intended as some good natured ribbing, Annie. I think we are both actually following the same Shepherd. Nothing is going amid on the trail because neither death nor life can separate us from His love.

        Like

  14. This was a fantastic reminder of the Life that was planted in me in 1978. Before that, I didn’t realize that I was not even alive, but, after, WOW!
    Now, as I approach 72, God keeps bringing thirty-something’s into my life as friends, as iron to sharpen, and as mentees (?).
    I always wish that I could write poetry and songs, but that doesn’t seem to be my gifting.
    But, these new friends, as well as some of my old ones, are sharpening my conversation and listening skills.
    As I spend time with my wife’s 92 year old mother and 96 year old father, I sometimes pray, “Lord, I don’t need to live that long, do I?”

    “But, if You have more for me to do, Your Will Be Done!”

    How can I find your music and poetry?

    Like

    Reply

    2. Forgot to mention, my songs are now on the SoundCloud website/app, which I haven’t yet figured out how to navigate yet.🙄 Some are sung by me, and others are sung by “real singers” at the demo studio I went to. I’m hoping to start sharing my songs on my blog soon. Thanks for asking.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s