The reality of sin, pervasive and subtle, means that every day is a struggle to maintain and advance the Kingdom of God. Every work, every task, each conversation is an IED waiting to explode in your face, a set of poisonous fangs concealed behind an alluring gaze, the folded talons of a raging eagle, falling gloriously toward you. Each moment, though it comes pristine from God, arrives with sharp edges, like broken glass, to cut away your vitality and whittle down your hope. Do not be deceived; no good thing comes naturally or easily. You must be on guard. You must be vigilant. You cannot hide from time's advance or sin's tightening stranglehold. You must fight. You must create. You must redeem each moment and everything in it, washing it in the blood of Christ, polishing it with the grace of the Spirit, and fashioning it on the wheel of the Word into something pleasing to God and beneficial to your neighbor. Do not look back, or the accumulation of advancing moments will harden you like a pillar of salt and freeze you in your faithless tracks. Look ahead to where you've been summoned, and craft each opportunity, as it passes through your hands back to Him Who gave it, as a journeyman's gift, announcing your soon arrival and filling with delight the heart of your awaiting King. To art, then, and without flinching or complaining, for this is your sufficiency each day.