The arithmetic of wisdom

This is the only psalm attributed to Moses, a man who watched an entire generation live out its days in the wilderness. He knew something about time. And his request is strange at first: teach us to count. Surely counting is the one thing we can do ourselves?

Apparently not. We count money carefully and days carelessly, treating the supply as unlimited. To number your days is simply to admit they have a number — that this ordinary Tuesday is one of a finite set, unrepeatable, already being spent as you read this.

The purpose is not gloom; it is focus. A numbered day gets applied — the heart leans into what matters and lets the rest thin out. You do not need to know the total to live this way. You only need to remember there is one.