begin with days, months and years. end with eternity...

Have you ever pondered the concept of time?

I mean...why do we measure minutes by seconds,
hours by minutes, days by hours, weeks by days, months by weeks,
years by months, our lives by years?

...kinda reminds me of a song...

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...
five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear...
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes...
how do you measure, measure a year?
(From "Seasons of Love" in the musical Rent)


Sorry...got sidetracked...
sometimes you just have to go with it.
I'm back now...but it could happen again.

If you really want to get down to brass tacks...
God created time...it was part of his sovereign plan.

Genesis 1, beginning with verse 3 says,

And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.  And God
saw that the light was good.  And God separated the light from 
the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness  he
called Night. And there was evening and there was morning,
the first day...


Then moving on to verse 14...

And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens
to separate the day from the night.  And let them be for signs and
for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the
expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.  And it was so.
And God made the two great lights - the greater light to rule the day
and the lesser light to rule the night - and the stars.


So...from the very beginning our world has been marked by time...
morning and evening...a day...
and another song...

Sunrise, sunset...sunrise, sunset...
swiftly go the years.
One season following another
laden with happiness and tears.
(from "Sunrise, Sunset" in Fiddler on the Roof)

...I can't predict when it will happen...it just does.
And I'm back...

Three days of this week were for me full of isolation,
hugging porcelain, aching joints, no food, Sprite,
crushing headaches, sleep (because staying awake was impossible)...
these were not enjoyable mornings and evenings.
I was not sad to bid them farewell.

However, that was not my sentiment as our annual
Thanksgiving week at Telliquah Falls came to a close.
Neither did I feel a sense of relief when Christmas
vacation ran out of days.

Those days were full of family, worship, laughter,
food, great conversations, games, movies, shopping,
staying up late and sleeping in...who would want that to end?

I received an email that a former boss of mine
died yesterday morning.

The abruptness of death hit me in the face, once again.
How does it always catch me off guard...
even though I know it's the one sure statistic
each person alive can rest assured we will become?

Perhaps death is the great surpriser because
when God created man in his image,
the LORD God...breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
and the man became a living creature.  (Genesis 2:7)


Ecclesiastes 3:11b says,
Also, [God] has put eternity into man's heart...


God created us to live...breathing his breath into Adam,
and even placed within us
a sense that this life is not all there is.
Is that why we are so affected by death...
when there are no more days, months, years to measure?
Are we provoked when reminded of death to consider
that which God put within us...eternity?

Ecclesiastes 3:11b continues,
yet so that he cannot find out what God has done
from the beginning to the end.


This, I believe, is one of God's greatest mercies...
that he has not given us the ability
to know everything he has sovereignly ordained.
We couldn't handle it.

But, he providentially supplies days, months and years,
which hold for us birth and death, planting and harvesting,
killing and healing, breaking down and building up,
weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing,
scattering and gathering, embracing and turning away,
seeking and losing, keeping and throwing away,
tearing and sewing, silence and speaking,
loving and hating, war and peace.  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

...name that tune...pfftt..that was an easy one.
I'm sorry...please forgive me.

Today, as I contemplate time and eternity,
sickness and health...life and death...
I am reminded of my own human frailty and
the increasing brevity of the days, months and years remaining.
Yet, I am drawn not to despair but to rejoice in this truth...

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
According to his great mercy, he has caused [me]
to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is
imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for [me],
who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.


In this [I] rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,
[I] have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested
genuineness of [my] faith - more precious than gold that 
perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Though [I] have not seen him, [I] love him.  Though [I]
do not now see him, [I] believe in him and rejoice with joy
that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome
of [my] faith, the salvation of [my] soul.   (1 Peter 1:3-9) 


Oh, that everyone would know this great salvation!

May the rest of my days, months and years (God willing)
be marked not only by time but by boldness and courage
to share the gospel of Jesus Christ without hesitation...
for it is only this gospel that has the power
to change a life today for eternity.