PRIORITIES! One of life’s necessities and yet often overlooked because we are tempted to just float along in life with no sense of what’s really important. I know one thing---when this life is over, we’ll take a glance backward and be glad we took the time and effort to choose wisely how we spent our days on this planet.

I agree with Ben Patterson who wrote in “The Grand Essentials”: “I have a theory about old age…I believe that when life has whittled us down, when joints have failed and skin has wrinkled and capillaries have clogged and hardened, what is left of us will be what we were all along, in our essence.”

Exhibit A is a man I read about who spent all of his life seeking riches. He spent his last days on this earth very comfortably, drooling and babbling constantly about the money he had made…When life whittled him down to his essence, all there was left was raw greed. This is what he had cultivated in a thousand little ways over a lifetime.

Exhibit B is Edna, a woman who lived well up into her 90’s. She impacted my life greatly. When I became acquainted with her, she was a retired school teacher. She directed the choir in our church, taught Sunday school, and served in multiple leadership roles. I remember her smile, positive attitude, and deep faith. She had a severe case of arthritis, which made it difficult for her to even walk, but I never remember her talking about it. What an example! When she had to go into a nursing home, she made the best of it, organizing a Bible study for the other "older" residents. Edna love Jesus and she used every opportunity to brag about Him to anyone who would listen.

When life whittled her down to her essence, all there was left was love: love for God and love for people. I’d say she got it right when it came to priorities, wouldn’t you?