The old woman was nearing her ninetieth year. The colder climate she lived in had become a constant burden, so she decided it was time for a change of scenery. Traveling to Florida to begin her new life, she started by finding a local realtor and investigating the real estate opportunities in the area. Enthusiastically the agent took her on a tour of a vast range of apartments, condos and town homes, extolling the virtues of each one. "Oh, just look at that one," he said, as they passed one elegant piece of property, "in ten years it'll be worth several times what it costs now!" "Sorry, Sonny," the old lady exclaimed, "at my age I don't even buy green bananas."

This story has its humorous side, but there's more here than just a funny story. This woman was smart enough to know that her time on earth was limited and making long range plans at her age was probably futile. The same lesson needs to be learned by all regardless of age, for death is no respecter of persons. Too many of us are prone to make our grandiose plans for the future without any thought that anything could interfere with them. Fearing to buy green bananas is an extreme; we should most certainly make some plans for the future; but never plans that don't include God, for we aren't promised even one more day of life.

Make your plans, but keep God at the center of them. "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" - (Jas. 4:13-15).

Lonnie Ritchie
BACK