Number Our Days

On the way home (to Virginia) from our Pennsylvania Christmas vacation, Clay & I were approaching the exit for the town that holds irreplaceable memories shared with each other & with some remarkable friends: Shippensburg. Before we passed that King Street exit on I-81, Clay said, "One more time around the town together for old sake?"

That late night nostalgia set in hard for the both of us as we turned down every familiar street & were flooded with even more familiar remembrances. We drove on each road that held a significance to us; we passed the dorms/houses we once lived in, the bike path that we rode 15+ miles on almost every nice weekend, the tennis courts where our aggressive competitiveness surfaced, the "mom & pop" diner that we brunched at most Saturdays, and the business/communication buildings we spent years in, pursuing our degrees.

As our outing ended, we both sat in silence & looked around to let the once called home scenery hit us a little more in all the feels. College at Shippensburg will forever be some of the best times of our lives. But, Clay said something right before we got back on I-81 to head toward I-95: "If I look back at my life & say that the best years of my life were the four years I was in college, then I did something wrong & wasted life." He said the best years shouldn't be spent broke, not married, no career, & with little experience of the opportunities in this world for God & for pleasure.

Psalm 90:12&14 says to ask God to teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom, to satisfy us in the morning with His unfailing love, that we may sing for joy & be glad all our days. God gives us a set number of days in this life to diligently use the present time for His purpose & for joy. Our glory days in Shippensburg were meant to be some of the best moments in life, but also finite. We went to Shippensburg knowing we were leaving. Shippensburg is our past, Virginia is our present. We also came to Virginia knowing we are shortly leaving. Clay & I have numbered our days here, choosing to make irreplaceable memories with each other & with some remarkable friends. Later this year, we will meet another new home & continue to number our days there for God's purpose & for our joy.

Driving back down I-95 South, we played one of our favorite old songs & together we sang our version, "country roads, take me home, to the place I belong, Virginia, mountain mamma, take me home."

{ We belonged in Montoursville. We belonged in Shippensburg. We now belong in Virginia. We will belong in ....... }

To God: Thank you for teaching Clay & I to number our days. We are grateful for incredible memories & look forward to new ones that are to be made. Help us to diligently use each & every day for your glory, wasting not even one, or becoming stuck on past "better" days.

To Clay: I love every numbered day with you.