MY! HOW TIME FLIES

What is it about time?  There is never enough of it.  Sometimes it passes too slowly.  At other times, we wish for just a bit more of it.  Time waits for no man. What time is it?  Do I have time to do that?  This is the longest day of my life!  My, how time flies!

I spent forty-two years of my life in public schools where time is calculated down to the second and the passing of time is announced by the sound of a bell.  Not a quiet tinkling bell, but a loud blast of a siren that they call a bell.  First period actually began at 8:38 and ended at 9:42!  Who thinks like that?  I became quite an expert at timing lessons and rehearsals right down to the bell.

Three years ago, I retired from public school teaching.  I knew that retirement would bring about changes in my life, but one adjustment I had not anticipated was the lack of structure due to the absence of "the bell."  The passing of time seemed different outside the school setting.  Hours and minutes and seconds no longer seemed so definite.  I could sit down and start on a project and look up and realize that time had gone by absolutely unnoticed. It seemed that I was freed from the restraints of the clock. 

I heard a radio broadcast by Joni Eareckson Tada recently.  She described her encounter with Kim, a young woman who was living her last days.  Kim told Joni that she felt worthless because she was bedridden and barely even able to communicate.  Joni (a wheelchair bound quadraplegic) advised her to think about time in God's terms.  "For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night."  (Psalm 90:4.)  "Kim, imagine this," Joni advised. "What you can accomplish in just one day on earth can have a thousand years of ramifications!  Contribute in any way that  you can during these days on earth.  Give a smile, say thank you, pray for your loved ones, praise The Lord.  Store up for yourself treasures in Heaven.  Your life on earth has worth - even in the broken body in which you are living."

One day = one thousand years.  A thousand years = one day.  That is MY kind of math!    This concept answers many questions that have burdened me lately.  "God, why is life so unfair?  Why do the good suffer?  Why do young people have to die?  Why do others continue to survive in earthly bodies when they long to begin their eternal life in Heaven with you? "

To be more specific:  "Why was baby Colton born with agressive cancer? A baby?  I don't understand!"  "Why did my friend, Nina, suffer a devastating stroke, suffer for over a year, and then die?  She was MY age, Lord!  Her family needs her!"   "Why did my niece's thirty year old friend go to bed one night never to awaken from her sleep? In the prime of her life.  Explain that!"  "My dear friend, Billie, is approaching a century on earth.  She has outlived her husband, her son, her friends.  She is ready to be with you in Heaven.  Yet, she is still here.  Why, God?"   And, while we are on the subject, Lord,  how about me?  After following your leadership and investing my time, money, and two years worth of sweat equity in a music academy, why was I given a diagnosis of an incurable cancer? In my heart, I KNOW without a doubt that you called me into this venture.  Now I am told that something growing in my body has the potential to rob me of the ability to complete the task.  What would happen to the academy without me?  I'm the lead teacher?  Why? Why? Why?

I am reminded that God is not bound by earthly limits of time and space.  He does not view time as we do.  With God, time is relative.   He waits patiently, while we wrestle with impatience.  The apostle Peter reminded early Christians of the words of Moses:  "With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like a day."  (2 Peter 3:8.)

I have come to a second conclusion in regards to my "whys."  Just maybe, the answers to all questions are not for my finite mind to comprehend.  Acts 1: 7-8 tells us that Jesus' own disciples questioned him about the time and place that he would set up his Kingdom.  "He said to them: 'It is not for you to know the time or dates the Father has set by his own authority.'"  OUCH!  Did Jesus actually say, "IT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS?"  If his own beloved disciples were not privy to all the secrets of time and space, why should I expect to understand?  "For my thoughts are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."  (Isaiah 55:8-9.)  "Now we see only an indistinct image in a mirror, but then we will see face to face.  Now what I know is incomplete, but then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known."  (I Corinthians 13:12.)

My plan of action:  I am doing my best to trust my moments, my days, and my years to God; the ruler of time and space. I am reassured by these words penned by the early psalmist:  "You saw me before I was born.  Every day of my life was recorded in your book.  Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed."  (Psalm 139: 16.)  And as for those "why?" questions . . . . I am beginning to comprehend that it is simply not my place to have all the answers.  From this day on, I want to strive to make each moment count for something eternal.  Joni's friend, Kim, lived only a few weeks after their conversation, but her family says that they were some of the happiest days of her life.  Like Kim, I want to store up treasures in Heaven.  I want to live each day doing something I love and contributing to the lives of others. I eagerly anticipate the moment when I will fly into in arms of my precious Savior to live with him throughout eternity.  Now THAT, my friends, is worth waiting for.  My, how time flies!