“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)
“Time flies!” So wrote the Latin poet Virgil way back in 20 BC. We surely realize that time does not really fly … or does it? Actually the origin of this phrase referred to the action of birds in their flying ability given to them by our Lord. The fact is that as you watch the birds in the forest, backyard, etc. they are visible to us one second and are gone the next!
This phrase views time as being here and then gone before one hardly realizes it! Granted when we are having fun or truly enjoying something or someone, time does seem to accelerate, yet at other times when we are bored or engaged in something that is just not pleasurable it seems to crawl.
The wise person, young or old should come to grips with the truth that at every moment of our lives, choices and decisions must be made, and we could all do a much better job of making those decisions and choices better! Right? Right!
C.S. Lewis writes, “The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” We must determine how we are going to spend our limited time which really is valuable, because God will hold us accountable for how we have spent it.
You do realize that:
- We can’t do everything we are considering to do or accomplish!
- We can’t do everything that others may ask or even demand of us!
So we must do as the Bible says, “… number our days.” Each of us must learn to do a better job of establishing our priorities and ask ourselves at the end of every day if we made good choices, used our time wisely, and if not where we can improve tomorrow should God grant us a new day!
I do know this … that if I spend today worrying and fretting and regretting my choices of the past that cannot be reclaimed, then I am wasting the only real time God has promised me and that is now!
It has been said that Albert Einstein was never clear if he believed in time travel, but had he raised a toddler, he certainly would have! And that is so, isn’t it? One minute our children are small babies totally dependent on us and the next they seem to be totally independent of us.
So my friend and fellow traveler in life, spend a little bit of time today and everyday evaluating the way you spend your time and reading from God’s word. Carl Sandburg said it very well when he wrote, “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”
Bill Fairchild, Jr.
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