There’s an email currently circulating asking what you’d do if you were given a daily gift of $86,400 deposited into your bank account each morning.  The catch is, at the end of the day, you lose whatever you don’t spend and the deposits could stop any day without notice.  When I first received this email, I began thinking about what I’d do with $86,400 each day.  You could help a lot of people with $86,400.  $86,400 would buy a lot of food and clean water and life necessities.  But, as I thought about it more and about how the daily deposits could end at any moment without notice, I thought about what would be truly helping others and what would only be putting a bandaid on.  I thought about the programs through Lutheran World Relief and other charities that help set people and communities up to grow their own food, farm, or fish.  I thought about Ryan’s Wells and his efforts to bring wells and clean waters to every community.  They are looking for long-term solutions which enable individuals and communities to continue having their needs met, even after they no longer receive handouts or funds from charities.  This often takes more thought and work up front, but is more rewarding in the long run and gives people back dignity, and empowers them to make a better life for themselves and their families.  

The email then reveals that we are given a gift each morning in the amount of 86,400 seconds.  Each day we are gifted with 86,400 seconds to spend any way we choose, but whatever time we do not use is lost at the end of the day.  We can choose to help others with our time or to waste it.  It is a gift, but we have no way of knowing how many more days we will continue to receive it– it could stop any day without notice.  The question is, how will you spend your gift today?  

Read I Peter 4:10-11, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally!

Annie

Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%204:10-11