What Happened to My Life?

How does it all move along so quickly?  I’m talking about my life.  I can’t believe how fast it goes.  Oh I know.  Some days seem like weeks.  Then there are months that seem like weeks.  There are weeks that seem to last just a day.

I think I graduated from high school a few years ago.  Uhhh.  That would be 35 years ago.  Surely not!  Depressing?  No, not really.  It just feels kind of odd.  After all, I can remember driving on Lake June Road in front of my high school in Dallas listening to "Stairway to Heaven" (Led Zeppelin).  While I remember that moment as if it were yesterday, there are entire years I can’t remember. 

Time really does move quickly.  Yet, I think I know people whose clock stopped a long time ago.  They stopped growing and thinking.  They have basically been in neutral for much of their lives.  These are people who started talking about being old while in their 40’s.  How boring!  That is no way to live.  No, I think I will pass on shutting down long before I die.

So how do we view time?

• View time as a precious gift from God.  Never take it for granted. You may live a long time.  Your life may be relatively short.  Regardless, life is a gift.
• Consider your past.  Learn from it.  Rely on God’s grace for forgiveness for your wrongdoing.
• Consider your future.  Depend on God to get you through the future.  These years represent the unknown.  Aren’t you glad you don’t know every detail of your future?  You will need to trust in the Lord.
• Consider your present.  Squeeze every drop out of life each moment of the day.  Do not wait for your circumstances to be just right.  They probably never will.
• No matter what you do for a living, you will only have 24 hours in a day.  That is it.  Quit thinking about what you would like to do if only you had more hours in the day.
• Remember that you have time for what really matters.  Jesus did. 
• Take time to re-create your body/soul.  Give it a rest.  Work out, run, or walk.  Do something that stimulates your mind, body, or soul.
• STOP talking about how you will one day use your time better.  How many husbands and wives have lived under the illusion that one day, their spouse will work less hours.  What your are doing right now says a great deal about who you are.

Finally, think for a moment about the end of time…

I have a good friend who is a minister for a very large church.  At times I think he has not felt appreciated by the church or some of their leaders.  He told me one day, "I think that if I were to walk across the street in front of our church building on a Sunday morning and get hit by a coke truck, they would have a search committee in place by that evening."

It is true.  One day I will die.  I will die at a certain time of day.  I will die on a particular day, maybe a Sunday or Monday.  I will die during a certain month and year.  They will put all of this information on my gravestone.  Then…

Then they will replace me!  A few months after I die, the elders of the church where I serve will introduce a young minister and his wife and two little kids.  People will love them.  Life will go on.

Time on this earth teaches us that we are not indispensable.  Oh I know, my wife and children will miss me very much.  As a family member, I am special to them as they are to me.  But time and life will go on.

We are here for a short time and then it is over.  The good news is that time does not define our lives beyond the grave.  No, as Christians, we speak of eternity.  We speak of living forever with the Lord.   Now that is something to hold on to.