If you died today, will you leave a legacy behind worth following? Will you leave something that your family can be proud of? Would the dash that sits in between your date of birth and date of death speak on the valuable things and the gifts you’ve shared with others? Will the dash be justified in the story that it tells? See, I’ve lived long enough to know that it really doesn’t matter about the birth date or even about the death date because all most folks will remember and talk about is the things you did while you lived. Would you be willing to stand around and listen to what folks had to say about you because you know that even though you made some mistakes, in your life, you learned from them and became the person that God destined you to be? Or will you be too ashamed to hear people call you a liar, backstabber, gossiper, ditch digger and unfriendly? The bible tells us in Genesis 1:27, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” God didn’t create us to be anything other than a righteous person who strives to be like him. No, he didn’t say we wouldn’t make mistakes because he promised us trouble and with trouble come bad choices/mistakes, but he expects us to repent and learn from the mistakes we make so that we don’t make them again. Psalm 34:19 says, “A righteous man may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.” So, there is no excuse for not making your dash count. What will your dash say?
Somebody can say, “My dash will represent the new me because even though I used to be a drug addict, I committed myself back to God and he dipped my broken body in his blood and I came out clean and whole.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”) Someone can say, “My dash will represent the new me because even though I used to lie and steal, God came into my life when I invited him and now I lie with him during the good and the bad and I only steal away when I need to pray.” (Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”) Somebody can say, “My dash will show that even though I made mistakes, God forgave me for them over and over, if I asked. (1 John 1:9. “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”) Someone can say, “I was once afraid to acknowledge God before folks that I knew but when I realized the power that he can place over my life, how he can bring me through storms, comfort me when friends are gone, heal me when sickness comes and send rest when I toss and turn, I proudly proclaim to be a child of the king! (Luke 12:8, “I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God.)
Yea, some of our dashes will be longer than others, depending on the years that we are given by God, but it doesn’t mean we work any less. Even Jesus said in Mark 10:14 and Matthew 19:14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” See, it doesn’t matter about age to God because it only matters if you let him in. Who am I to say a child has to be a certain age to truly understand the magnitude of God’s grace? There are children going through cancer at a young age and I know that God is the only thing giving them the strength to do it, so how can I say they don’t know him? There are young children homeless and struggling to survive on their own, but they do and it can only be through God’s guidance, so how can I honestly say they’ve never talked to him? During this time, in this life, when peer pressure and bullying is on the rise, our youth need to know about the goodness of God. With suicide rates increasing day after day, in our youth, they need to know that even though they are facing a hard time, it’ll get better if they hold on. With teen pregnancy, drug/alcohol abuse, sexual assaults, HIV and STDs on the rise, we need to tell our youth that God is a healer and a redeemer and that he forgives us of our sins. We are losing too many of our youth without their dashes having meaning. It’s time now for us to show them that their life has a meaning and no matter what age they are, they still have a date with death and because of this, they have to work every day to make sure they leave a dash worth speaking about.
I am not perfect but that means I am a work in progress, so I’ll make my dash count. When we mess up, it’s simply God, the potter, taking the clay off the wheel, reshaping it and placing it back on the wheel in order for us to be able to withstand the heat that will seal in our shine. God is giving us the opportunity to make our dash count. Every time he remolds us, when we ask for forgiveness, he is allowing us time to make our dash count. Every time we go in the fire and come out with burns, he is giving us the chance to make our dash count. Every time we fall and he allows us to get up, he is giving us a chance to make our dash count. Every time he heals our bodies, he is giving us a chance to make our dash count. Don’t allow your living to be in vain. Just because you made a mistake or committed a sin on yesterday, repent for it, be forgiven and learn from it. Just because you feel the best you have in years, doesn’t mean today won’t be your last day because even on your well days, you are sick enough to die. Don’t wait until tomorrow to talk to God, start today. Don’t wait until Monday to start cleaning your life up, start today. Don’t wait until Sunday to talk to God, start today. Don’t wait until you’re lying on your death bed to confess your wrongs, start today. Forgive those who have hurt you, forget those who have walked away and not looked back, love those that are in your life, help those who hands are out asking, pray for those who need it even if they never ask and tell all about the love of God. Your life has a meaning; the kind of meaning that it has, well that depends on you. Make it count! What will your dash say?
Lakisha, the Author 