There's a circular path in the park where I walk behind our home in Boise, Idaho. When I've walked three times around, I've gone 1 mile.

It's easy to lose count of the laps on my 3-mile walk. So each morning I pick up nine small stones and put them in my pocket, discarding one each time I finish a lap.

I always feel good when there's one stone left in my pocket. It puts spring in my step. I pick up the pace.

It occurs to me that my walk through life is a lot like those daily walks. I've completed three-score and ten years and don't have far to go. That too puts spring in my step.

I'm in no hurry to leave this life, but my times are in God's hands. As the body is breaking down under the weight of the years, there is a grace within that sustains me. I go now "from strength to strength," and in good time I will appear "before God in Zion" (Psalm 84:7,11). That will be glory for me.

Our Lord gives "grace and glory," the psalmist says—grace for our earthly walk and glory when we have finished it. "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly" (v.11).

Do you need grace today? God gives it with both hands. All you have to do is take it.
  — David H. Roper