Tempus Fugit—Latin, “Time flies.”
The phrase comes to mind this week in particular because we are about to reach the fastest hour in “the year of our Lord” (anno Domini--AD), 2011. What is the fastest hour of this year? I’ll give you a hint: It is an hour that does not exist. You probably have guessed that I am referring to the coming of Daylight Savings Time early on Sunday morning when we are to move our clocks forward by an hour, thus erasing 60 minutes from our experience of time. We magically will recreate that hour in the fall when returning back to Standard Time, so it all balances out in the end. Nevertheless, when I get up on Sunday at 7:15 AM to prepare for worship, it will feel like 6:15 AM. And when we begin Sunday Contact worship at 9:15 AM, it will feel like 8:15 AM. Time will have flown overnight with the loss of that hour. Let us not allow this factor to discourage us from gathering with each other before the Lord on Sunday morning; rather, let’s plan our Saturday evening schedules in advance so that we will not miss the Divine Encounter God has in store for us!
The vanishing hour in moving to Daylight Savings Time points to the broader issue of how our individual lives and times pass by so swiftly. As a child, time seems to move very slowly—except during summer vacation, of course. During adult years, the passage of time quickens so that we regularly make comments like “I don’t know where the time went,” and “it seems like only yesterday,” when in fact it was a decade ago. The writers of the Book of Psalms were well aware of the fleeting nature of a lifetime.
-- As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
The wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no
more (Psalm 103:15-16).
-- My days are like the evening shadow; I wither away like grass (Psalm
102:11).
-- You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass in
the morning—though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it
is dry and withered (Psalm 90:5-6).
Our time on this earth is a gift from God that does not last for long. Instead of despairing over this reality, the Bible regularly encourages us therefore to make the very most of the days given to us. As Moses writes in Psalm 90:12, “[God] Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Coming to terms with life’s brevity can be a catalyst to looking at it sapiently, that is, with sound judgment. The Apostle Paul adds, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is” (Ephesians 5:15-17). We are called to capitalize on the span of our lives with the wise pursuit of God’s ways.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) has been called the greatest philosopher-theologian-pastor ever produced in the United States. In the seventieth of his famous Resolutions, Edwards wrote, “Resolved: Never to lose one moment of time, but to improve it in the most profitable way I possibly can.” Edwards wrote these words just before his twentieth birthday. Plainly he was a man who was wise beyond his years. Which leads us to the questions: How will we be wise with this year, 2011? How will we redeem the time given us? How will we seek to understand the will of the Lord?
Think about it . . . quickly . . . tempus fugit!
No comments:
Post a Comment