Luke 2:7 “And she gave birth to her firstborn son.”
Luke 23:46 “Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" And having said this he breathed his last.”

Between every birth and death there is a so-called dash. We often see this dash on grave markers between the date of birth and the date of death. This symbol for the earthly life of Jesus lasted only 33 years. We will celebrate his birth next week at Christmas. We will celebrate the start of Jesus’ dash. However, we must never neglect or forget what he did during his 33-year dash for us. His perfect dash can never be repeated and is eternal. He lived a sinless and perfect life, died on the cross for us, and was raised by God the Father for eternal life. This was the dash for Jesus’ time on earth.

We each have a dash to live with a start date and an ending date. We don’t set either of these two dates. God does. When we really think about it, we don’t get to choose who our parents are, the time and place of our birth, or the time of our death. God determines these. However, we determine what happens between our birth and death and how we live our lives. The dash of our lives that has real meaning and eternal consequences is the date of our spiritual birth into God’s family and the date he calls us home. Just as the dash of Jesus has eternal impact today and forever, we should lead our lives and families to have an eternal impact that will outlive us. Christmas should remind us that the birth of Jesus should be celebrated as the start of our own dash when we trust Him as our Savior. How are you living out your dash and will it have an eternal impact? Will it live on after your dash is over?