CLEOEJACKSONIII.COM
  • My Home Page
  • My Life and Ministry
  • My Ongoing Thoughts
  • My Favorite Bible Verses
  • My Favorite Stories
  • My Favorite Jokes
  • My Favorite Quotations
  • My Favorite Web Links
  • My Contact Info
"Helping Others Communicate"

NUMBERING OUR DAYS

8/20/2015

 
I have been away from my blog for several days because my wife and I have been out of the country touring ancient Rome and its surroundings.  As Rome is six hours ahead of us, we came back home to find ourselves wide awake each morning at 3 am and dead tired each day by 4 pm.

Suffice it to say that it makes for an awful long night when you are unable to sleep and staring at the ceiling half the night! However, after a couple of days spent adjusting to the jet lag, we are now back on task.

Speaking of long nights, I read recently that the longest night in history was September 2, 1752.  This was the night the Gregorian (or modern) calendar was adopted in England.  It replaced the Julian calendar that had been in place for more than eighteen centuries.  The reason was that the Julian calendar did not make sufficient allowance for Leap Year.  As a result, the English calendar had grown to be eleven days behind the right time. 

Those eleven days were simply omitted after September 2, 1752; and the next day was reckoned to be September 14, 1752.  Now, most any way you look at it, that is one long night!

More to the point, that is one big statement!  The Roman Empire, lasting a thousand years, is considered by many to be the greatest in human history.  And among its leaders, none is more well-known than Julius Caesar.  The terms “Kaiser” and Czar” both derive from Caesar.  Famous quotations such as “I came, I saw, I conquered” and “The die is cast” are attributed to him.  His written works, such as The Gallic Wars, are still studied in university Classics departments and military institutions around the world. 

He even has a play named after him, one personally penned by William Shakespeare.  That work launched a very common phrase associated with this death:  “Beware the ides of March.” Indeed, countless books and movies have since showcased his life and death.

And yet, Julius Caesar, worshipped by many in his day as a god, was just a man.  As a result, his arduous attempts to achieve divine status and eternal recognition all proved futile in the end.  And even what was arguably his most lasting achievement, the ordering of the cosmos into structured time in the form of a calendar, was not destined to last.  Like so many of the buildings he inhabited and the statues that captured his likeness, it, too, ultimately crumbled.

As I stood overlooking the spot where he was assassinated in the Roman Forum in 44 B.C., I thought of these words by the famed English dramatist (and contemporary of William Shakespeare), John Webster:

Vain the ambition of kings
Who seek by trophies and dead things
To leave a living name behind,
And weave but nets to catch the wind.


Of course, today, we operate by the Gregorian calendar, named for another man (Gregory) who claimed, not to be divine himself, but to follow One who was divine:  Jesus Christ.  And we number our days from the time of Jesus Christ’s birth, dividing them into B.C., “Before Christ”, and A.D., not “After Death”, but “Anno Domini”, Latin for “in the year of our Lord”.

In the twelfth verse of Psalm 90, the Bible admonishes us to number our days.  The Hebrew word for “number” is “lim·nō·wṯ”, and it means “to count, or to number”, but also to “reckon”.  I take this to mean that we would all do well to remember that our days in this world are numbered.  We will not live forever. 

But I also take that to mean that one day, whether you, me, or even the famed Julius Caesar, we will each stand before our Creator and Redeemer and give an account of how we spent the precious days allotted to us.  In light of this, I would rather spend mine drawing attention to and glorifying the name of my Lord and Savior than of myself.  I challenge you to do the same.

Comments are closed.

    Cleo E. Jackson, III

    Occasionally I will add
    a few thoughts to my blog. If you find them inspirational, I will be
    honored.

    Archives

    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Categories

    All