Diamonds in the River
By Pastor Justin Cooper
I sat down with my son Lincoln a couple of weeks ago to watch the NBA Finals. He was talking the whole time — questions, commentary, excitement — and I'll be honest with you, I told him to be quiet. I just wanted to watch the game. "Motor mouth," I said. He just talks so much.
And then I thought: what if that was the last time I'd ever hear that little voice?
Would I have told him to be quiet? Or would I have leaned in and listened to every single word?
That's the question that's been sitting with me all week. And I believe it's the question God wants you and I to wrestle with right now.
Most of life runs on very predictably. Most days are just normal days. You wake up, you drive to work safely, you eat the same breakfast, you hug the same people, you hear the same familiar voices. And because it happens so reliably, so consistently — we stop noticing it. We stop being grateful for it.
Isaac Watts wrote it this way: "Time, what an empty vapor it is. And days, how swift they are. Swift as an Indian arrow flies, are like a shooting star." He was right. Life just runs on. It runs on and runs past and runs through.
"I'm afraid here's how we treat life — like a man who stands on the bank of a river with handfuls of diamonds and carelessly casts them into the sea."
Pastor Justin Cooper
Gospel Light Baptist Church
That image stopped me cold. How many birthdays have you been at — physically present but mentally somewhere else? How many meals around the table have you eaten in silence, everyone staring at a screen? How many Sunday mornings have you sat in church and thought about everything you needed to do when you got home?
You and I are holding handfuls of diamonds. Every ordinary moment — the school pickup, the evening on the front porch, the phone call you keep meaning to return — is a diamond. A borrowed one. Given by God for a season. And it will not always be there.
"So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."
— Psalm 90:12
That's not a prayer asking God to help you count the days. It's a prayer asking God to help you value them. To stop living on autopilot and start living with intention. To stop throwing your diamonds in the river and start holding them up to the light.
Have you ever looked back on a season of life and thought — I had no idea how good I had it? I had no idea how precious that was?
You don't have to wait for life to jar you awake. You can choose to wake up right now.
Here's a practical step for today: Pick one person in your life and give them your full, undivided presence for one hour. No phone. No agenda. Just you and them — present, attentive, unhurried. Not because life is ending. Because it's a gift. Treat it like one.
Today is a diamond.
The people around you are a gift.
Stop throwing them into the river.
Pray this today:
Lord, teach me to number my days. Not just count them — but value them. Open my eyes to the diamonds you've placed in my hands. Help me to love the people in front of me the way You've loved me. Let me not waste a single moment of this borrowed life. Amen.
Reflection Question
What is one moment in your life right now that you are treating as ordinary — but would become precious in an instant if it were taken away? What would it look like to treat it as the treasure it already is?
Gospel Light Baptist Church | Walkertown, NC
