counting the days

I wonder if, like the grasshopper in Aesop’s famous fable, I live too thoughtlessly.

This morning, reading in the Psalms, I again encountered this verse, fromPsalm 90:12:
“Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

As always, it makes me think of our dislike of numbering our days. Who wants to think about how long or short we’ll live? Who wants to consider mortality, or the fact that, in my case, life is more than half done?

The Psalmist thinks that if I could learn to do this, I’d gain wisdom. Is that true?

Maybe numbering my days will prompt me to be more deliberate and less carefree, like the ant in the above-mentioned fable. Maybe I’ll work diligently, save what I earn, and be prepared for whatever might come my way. There seems to be some wisdom in that.

As I think about it, though, I think that’s still too shallow. I think I’m supposed to realize that my time here is short, but eternity is very long. As I consider what comes next, I may be moved to more meaningful and less frivolous choices about how I live. I may, as I ponder why God would organize things this way, realize that what I though was the purpose of my life really is a diversion from the real reason I’m here.

True wisdom, it seems, could spring from putting these few days on earth in the context of the eternity that I will spend with God. Or elsewhere, as the case may be.