SYNOPSIS: 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 older than dirt 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 of 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 likely have—then live them well.
Moments With God // Psalm 90:10, 12
True story: Kermit the frog was once heard saying, “Time’s fun when you’re 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, who didn’t have the full New Testament picture of life after death, was reflecting on how relatively brief life was when he said in Psalm 90:3-6, 10,
You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered…
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 older than dirt 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 of 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.
Take A Moment: 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.”
True story: Kermit the frog was once heard saying, “Time’s fun when you’re 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, who didn’t have the full New Testament picture of life after death, was reflecting on how relatively brief life was when he said in Psalm 90:3-6, 10,
You turn people back to dust,
saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
are like a day that has just gone by,
or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
but by evening it is dry and withered…
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 older than dirt 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 of 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.
Take A Moment: 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.”
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