Genesis 47-50

Congrats! You have made it all the way through the first book of the Bible.

We have reached a big milestone. We have just finished the period of the patriarchs; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Today's reading ended our journey with Jacob and with Joseph. I was saddened to read as Jacob looked back on his life and described it to Pharaoh. In Genesis 47:9 Jacob says this to Pharaoh, "The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have then attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning." Jacob's deception over the years had brought him much pain and tribulation. Feuding with his brother, deceiving his dad, fleeing from his brother never to see his mother alive again, working 14 years for Rachel, feuding wives, loosing Rachel in the birth of his youngest son, deceived by his children concerning Joseph, and ending his life in a foreign land, still owning no land himself. His life was certainly characterized by the word "unpleasant."

Most all of us will have that moment to reflect at the end of our lives and look back on how it has gone. I hope that will be a great day for you. But if that day of reflection were today, how would you describe your years here on the earth? Can you look back with positive fond memories, or do you recall more regrets than you would like? When we take the time now to look back we have the opportunity to redirect if we don't like the things we see. Yet if we look back dissatisfied but unwilling to change, then nothing will happen.

A lot of times, change isn't easy. It may mean a change in attitude or priorities. It may mean altering behavior. None of those things are done easily. We are creatures of habit, the actions that we take are often the most comfortable ones. It is hard to step out and really change. If you don't believe me, look back at your New Year's resolutions, or even worse... last year's! Some of your resolutions are repeats because you never changed them during the previous year.

It takes energy to change. It is not natural. Find a friend who will help you and then choose one thing with which you are not satisfied as you look back over your life. Tell that friend and then ask them to encourage and motivate you as they hold you accountable to do something you know you should.

If we look in the mirror and take no action, the picture we will see at the end of our lives will look no different. Good luck. May you be one who joyfully looks back over the years as Abraham was fortunate enough to do in Genesis 25:8, "Abraham breathed his last and died in a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life."