If you’re like me, you remember people as you last saw them. Even if it’s been six years, you somehow are shocked at how much the child has grown into a young adult!
You can plant seeds right after you till the garden. Somehow the weeds grow faster than the seeds you sowed. How does that work? They were essentially planted at the same time.
You can think that a tiny weed is no big problem. You don’t have to pull that one. But over time, every little weed becomes a big weed, and somehow the roots of weeds are a lot more tenacious than the plants you are trying to get to grow as vigorously! It works this way with sins vs. godly habits too.
A wound between friends, left to fester, doesn’t get well with time. It just remains a sore that ultimately ruins a friendship.
Procrastination seems like a good idea on a beautiful sunny day when everyone would rather be outside than doing what needs to be done first. Benjamin Franklin knew what he was talking about when he said, “A stitch in time saves nine.”
Once a moment is spent, you can’t get it back. It’s history - literally and colloquially.
Time seems to go more quickly the older you get. What seemed like forever to an eight year old seems like a snap of the fingers to me.
Time seems to go very slowly on Atonement.
Going back in time or visiting the future wouldn’t be nearly as much fun as we imagine. But we waste time thinking about the good old days or daydreaming about what we’ll do tomorrow. In the meantime, back in reality, thinking back or forward causes us to miss the present - and it is called the present because it’s a gift from God.
Dad mentioned on the last Day of Unleavened Bread that time is the only thing we have to give to God. Everything else is already His. So when God gifts us with time, we need to consider carefully what we’re going to do with it. What is the most valuable use of our time? What brings glory and honor to Him?
One of the graduates at Christopher’s commencement said that people always ask kids what they’re going to be when they grow up - instead of asking them what they’re going to do. She’s going to be a beautician. But she’s planning to leave a legacy of serving God, bringing Him glory and honor.
That legacy, however, won’t happen without some planning, some preparation and perseverance. We, each of us, need to spend time (some of that precious gift God’s given to us) reading His word, to know what is pleasing to Him. We need to meditate on it. We need to spend time in prayer, talking with our God! We need to be intentional about our time with God, not just letting it happen whenever we have time to fit it into our busy lives. Spending time with God daily is the crucial foundation of living a life to bring Him glory and honor because we can’t please Him unless we know Him. And we can’t know Him unless we spend quality time with Him. But then, we have to make sure God is part of everything we do. We cannot please Him if we compartmentalize Him into something convenient when we have time. He wants people who are wholly devoted to Him. He’s an integral part, the foundational component, of everything we do.
As we count to Pentecost, we are given another reminder from our Heavenly Father about just how significant time is. He wants us to count the days and make them count for Him.
So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:12 (ESV)
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5:16 (KJV)