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Take time to celebrate milestones
Pastor's corner
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King Solomon, a man who had great wisdom from God — examined life and summed up the greatest milestone of a person’s life. King Solomon said the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments.
I heard a man’s life summed up as a single day from sunrise to sunset. He was an elderly man. His life was described as prosperous, filled with love of family, an abundance of friends and well-wishers.
This man clearly had lived his life as a man of faith. He graciously took on the role of a leader, helping widows and orphans, giving sound advice, stopping to help those who were stranded or in need of a helping hand. The list of his kindness and ability to be at his best seemed to be endless.
As I listened to the account of his many accomplishments, I realized how precious and fragile life is and how important it is to take the time to celebrate milestones. The young man sharing his memories reminded me to celebrate every milestone because I only have one day. 
He interpreted sunrise as birth and sunset as the end of life. Each milestone is like a minute of time ticking away, ticking like the minute hand on a clock. How many times have you wished you had more time in your day to finish what you wanted to do?
A milestone is a significant or important event in the history of a country or in someone’s life. On July 4th, we celebrate our country’s milestone of independence.
Throughout our lives, we celebrate milestones. We continually have milestones to celebrate in the first years of our life. We have milestones of birthdays, starting school, graduating, falling in love, building relationships, and careers. The list goes on.
If we listen to King Solomon, we are to celebrate the milestone of finding and continuing our relationship with God. We were created to know God.
God tells us His plan for us is to prosper us and bring us to His anticipated celebration. He is bringing us to the celebration of a relationship with Him.
God has provided everything we need to ensure that we can have time to celebrate a new life according to His plan. Through our faith, we can celebrate our disappointments as well as our victories. We can celebrate individually or in various group settings.
The main point is to take the time, no matter how brief it may be, to celebrate. Life, when viewed as a day, is short. Think of all you can accomplish in your lifetime.
As our day begins, we may not realize that God wants to be part of our celebrating. We often are presented with the opportunity and choice of inviting God into our hearts.
If you are willing, God will come into your heart and help you to celebrate a relationship with Him. At the end of your day, what will your life say to those who come to celebrate you?

Ayala is pastor of Christ Tabernacle of Faith Church and a member of the United Ministerial Alliance.

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