Time Flies

Are you as amazed as I am with the speed of time? What once seemed interminable when I was a kid—school, chores, the preacher’s sermon, winter—now seems to rush by like a speeding locomotive. I blinked and suddenly this sixteen year-old kid panting to get his driver’s license is now pushing sixty and panting just walking up the stairs. Watching my wife-to-be walk down the aisle has turned into the new adventure of grandparenting—overnight! Time flies, doesn’t it! I guess the best advice we will ever get as it relates to the speed of life comes in the form this prayer Moses’ offered: “Lord, teach me to number my days soberly, so that I might live each of them wisely.” Great idea: soberly assess the number of days you’ll have—then live them well .

True story: Kermit the frog was once heard saying, “Time’s fun when your having flies.” Okay, not true, but you get the point. Kermit got his idiom a bit garbled, but that is quite understandable when Miss Piggy is stalking you!

Kermit was on to something! The truth is, time does fly—whether you are having fun or not. Moses was reflecting on how relatively brief life was when he said in Psalm 90:10,

The length of our days is seventy years—
or eighty, if we have the strength;
yet their span is but trouble and sorrow,
for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

How true that is! Are you as amazed as I am with the speed of time? What once seemed interminable when I was a kid—school, chores, the preacher’s sermon, winter, life—now seems to rush by like a speeding locomotive. I blinked and suddenly this sixteen year-old kid panting to get his driver’s license is now pushing sixty and panting just walking up the stairs. Watching my wife-to-be walk down the aisle has turned into the new adventure of grandparenting—overnight! Staring in amazement at the mystery of life as our daughters were born seems like only yesterday. Now they are successful in their own careers, making their way in the world—quite well, I might add, and having an impact in this world.

Time flies!

You could certainly add your own experience to the narrative. And those of you who are older can definitely add an urgent witness to the speed of life even more than I can at this stage of life: Suddenly, the grandkids are getting married; great grandchildren are arriving; the body is not working quite like it used to even though the mind still thinks of yourself as a youngster, full of vim and vigor; you are facing life without your soul-mate—and something you never dreamed possible is now a gritty reality.

Time flies!

I guess the best advice we will ever get as it relates to the speed of life comes in the form this prayer Moses’ offered: “Lord, teach me to number my days soberly, so that I might live each of them wisely.” Great idea: learn to number your days aright, and therein gain a heart of wisdom.