Empty Storefronts
Bromfield Street, the next street to the right of our church building is a corridor of empty storefronts. Besides King Frame, a restaurant called Side Bar, and a used jewelry and hobby shop called Bay State Coin Co., the street is largely abandoned. In my almost twelve years serving at TTBC, I have witnessed numerous businesses come and go. They began with all the energy and promise of a new endeavor, only through the passage of time to yield to the elements—a tough market, a pandemic, a shifting culture, bitter relations with a landlord. You name it. But the point is that this little street connecting Boston’s main travel arteries, Tremont and Washington Streets, has seen dramatic transitions and it serves as an illustration for our brief time on this planet.
Moses penned Psalm 90 in part to remind Israel that their stay would be brief and chaotic:
“The years of our life are seventy,
or even by reason of strength eighty;
yet their span is but toil and trouble;
they are soon gone, and we fly away. short.”
The contemplation of our fleeting days, indicated by the desire to learn to “number” our days in verse 12, leads to wisdom. Verse 12:
“So teach us to number our days
that we may get a heart of wisdom.”
One implication of these verses is that if we fail to number our days—if we lose touch with how short this life is—we may live foolishly. But to know that the days are short adds not merely a dignity to the time—as any commodity that is scarce is more precious—but an urgency of purpose to it. It adds a carpe diem, “seize the day” kind of an attitude. For the Christian, we seize the day for the glory of Jesus.
Take some time today to consider how fast the time has passed and how it slows down for no one. Eternity is pressing in on us from all sides, even when we lose sight of the hourglass. I knew so many of those business owners on Bromfield. They came, full of fire and excitement but were soon gone. The same with us, but the difference, when we’re talking about life and death, is that though we leave these bodies behind for a time, our everlasting home is with the Lord. May we number our days and live wisely while we wait for His return.
