Where Does Time Go?

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 fifteen year-old kid panting to get his driver’s permit is now in his fifties and panting just walking up the stairs.

Sometimes we forget that our aging parents were once vibrant young adults.

And time keeps on rolling. Watching my wife-to-be walk down the aisle has turned into the new adventure of empty nesting—overnight! Staring in amazement at the mystery of life as our daughters were born seems like only yesterday. Witnessing them go through college and contemplating their own careers, places to live, the kind of impact they want to have in this world seems like a lifetime ago.  Now adding sons-in-law and grandkids and happily adjusting to life as grandparents occupies our world. Walking with my parents as they age and face difficult senior care transitions and having “end of life” discussions with them is something I never contemplated.

Wow, 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!

Yes, time flies, and I need to add a twist. As the poet said, “Tis one life will soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” That is the truth, my friend. Time flies, so use it wisely. Make the most of it. Time is a gift from God, that’s why it’s called the present.

So perhaps it would be a good idea to follow Moses’ lead and pray that prayer today—and every day: “Lord, teach me to number my days soberly, so that I might live each of them wisely.”

“As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Your Assignment Today:  Stop and smell the roses!