Life and Time – Part 1
Life happens whether or not you are paying attention. Life doesn't wait until you are focused and ready and have a plan. Life is bound by time and time doesn't stop for anyone. Well, it stopped for Elijah one strange, ancient day, when God made an exception to His own rule, but that doesn't happen very often, that is, once in history as far as we know. Time is relentless which is part of the reason why life is precious. Time and life are bound together and yet time isn't life and life isn't time. Life exists within time, at least on the physical plain, so there will come a day for each person when time will cease but life will not.
Life will continue outside of the realm within which it began. This is eternal life and it is the gift of the eternal God to His beloved creation. Life with Him. Outside space and time. But it begins here with life as we know it. Life into which we are thrown (that is, born) kicking and screaming. Then, when we accomplish our days, this life will end and the next will begin, an outside-of-time, forever-life based in large part on the choices we made during our relatively brief experience in space and time.
For now we are stuck with the clock which keeps moving, rolling steady like the tide, marching in lockstep like a platoon, precisely, smoothly, constant no matter what the circumstances of life: sleep, peace, war, pain, longing, separation, joy, birth, dying – time is steadfast through it all. Time is without emotion, it simply moves forward without consideration of whether or not we think it is moving too slowly, like enduring Freshman English, or too quickly, as when we are watching our children grow like weeds before our very eyes. Seconds become minutes, hours, days, months and before you realize it another year has passed and you're in your turning sixty and wondering where the time went.
“Make the best use of time, because the days are evil,” Ephesians 5:16.
Just about everything that happens during the course of a day will distract you from what is really important if you allow it. One sense in which days are evil is that they can be wasted without any effort at all. Stop wasting time. Realize you can’t stop time and embrace each moment, each opportunity and relationship. Maximize the gift of time you’ve been given. Truly live by being present, watchful and aware. Experience each moment to the fullest and never hold back and never allow your life to be dictated by distraction. Live every moment aware and conscious of the presence of God; watch, listen, pray, worship, love.
Sincerely,
Ed
