The 'Mystery' of Time and Learning to Enjoy It (Column Version)

[Here is the version, written for my column in the Community Press newspapers of suburban Cincinnati.]

When I was growing up, one family of comments regularly made by my elders was sure to cause me to roll my eyes all the way to the back of my head.

It included such gems as these:

“Time sure does go by, doesn’t it?”

Or, “You certainly are growing up.”

Or, “It’s amazing that you’re already seven [or ten, or fifteen, or twenty].”

These comments and others like them were all delivered with the same disbelief that Chicago Cubs fans would feel today if you told them that finally, in the Year 2163, their team will win a World Series.

It seemed to me the most obvious thing in the world that time went by and that people aged.

But lately, I’ve begun to think that all those comments weren’t so dumb after all.

Our son, who will be 24 in a few months, is graduating from college and is working for a time before heading off to graduate school. He’s seeing a wonderful young woman; they're obviously crazy for each other.

Our daughter is twenty, a college sophomore who, last year, spent eight months working with the Walt Disney World College program for which she now acts as a campus representative. In June, she and a fine young man from Virginia will be married.

But I can hardly believe it. The time surely has gone by quickly.

Some of the writers of the Bible noticed time’s rapid passage and wrote about it. They did so bravely, with a sense of joy in spite of time's advancement. The prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament writes, “All people are grass...The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Here, the prophet was making a bold decision, embodying the great nevertheless of faith. “Time is going by, human fashions come and go” he said, “but I’m going to throw in with God. I know that my life here will ebb to an end. But I stand with the God Whose word made the world and Who’ll be standing long after the world has disappeared,”

James Taylor once sang, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.” That’s true as far as it goes, I think. But much depends on how you enjoy the passage of time.

We can try to enjoy it by taking an “eat, drink, and be merry; for tomorrow we die” approach. The problem with that is that no matter how happy we may deem ourselves in this life style, we still end up dead and separated from God.

Or we can throw in with the God we know through Jesus Christ, the God Who will give life and purpose and true joy to our time and to our eternity.

I’ve tried living life both ways. And to be honest, my life with Christ these past twenty-seven years or so hasn’t been marked by constancy. I’ve flirted with walking away from God, momentarily caving into the allurements of life lived apart from God. Followers of Christ are like recovering alcoholics: For as long as we live here on earth, we’re apt to “fall off the wagon” or fight the cravings to do so. But God is faithful and constant.

He remembers, as the Old Testament says, that we are dust.

He’s slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Time may go by quickly. But God is in a relationship with us for the long haul. We just have to ask Him to let us walk with Him each day.

I’ve found that having Him around makes the passage of time not only easier to bear, but also more purposeful, more joyful.