Filling My Life-Jar

This morning, I read: ‘David was old and full of years’. I understand ‘full of joy’, ‘full of excitement’, ‘full of charm’… but ‘full of years’? Pouring years into my life-jar that will one day become full?

Yesterday I found myself singing ‘Knocking on Heaven’s Door’. Bob Dylan wrote it for the film ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid’. It’s played after a character is fatally shot.

Reflecting on a recent birthday… My life-jar’s filling? Knocking on Heaven’s Door?

Remember Successes

Yesterday…

…I had a surprise phone-call from the head I worked for thirty-five years ago… remembering working together… good times….

…I went to the doctor’s for my annual check-up… recalling when I’d run a half-marathon every Saturday morning.

…We went to church to pray… reflecting on good times we’d shared… part of a church family, good people I’ve grown to know and love… glimpsing the truth, the unknowable…

Many good things have gone into my life-jar.

Recognise the Scary

A friend’s mum has died – he’s planning her funeral. An ambulance took an elderly neighbour to hospital. TV presenter Nick Owen says to ‘Prostate Cancer UK’:

‘Last year was undoubtedly the worst year of my life. You get the slow build up to the realisation that you’ve got prostate cancer and it’s real and aggressive and you’ve got to do something quickly. It was very stressful. Very upsetting.’

Dylan’s song includes: ‘It’s getting dark, too dark to see’.

Scary things could go into my life-jar.

Rely on the Simple:

In ‘The Tanglewoods’ Secret’ the clergyman, Mr Robinson explains to Ruth about the Good Shepherd:

‘…you will always belong to the Good Shepherd… He will often speak to your heart and you must learn to listen to his voice… you must learn to talk to him about everything, too. We call it praying, but really it means sharing everything with the Shepherd.’

It’s simple: My life-jar’s getting ‘full of years’. I’m knocking on heaven’s door. The Good Shepherd lives there. I know Him already.