Time

Have you ever noticed that people are obsessed with time? Especially Americans. We live and die by the clock. . . . Well, we don’t really. We just think we do. A lot of other countries are the same, so it’s not a uniquely American problem. In all honest, I really think it’s a human problem.

I think subconsciously we realize that we aren’t going to live forever so we try to cram as much as we can into our lives. We stress ourselves out because there aren’t enough hours in a day to get all our work done, but if we had “enough” we’d just use them to work.

The verse today is about time, sort of. But it’s about God’s perspective on time, which is quite different from ours.

Psalm 90:2, 4

² Before the mountains were born,
      before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
      from beginning to end, you are God.
⁴ For you, a thousand years are as a passing day,
      as brief as a few night hours.

Isn’t it interesting how differently God views time? But, after all, He created it. So, of course, He’s going to see it differently.

A lot of people are in awe of some manuscripts that I’ve written. To them, they are really excellent works of art that communicate a great truth. Well, to me, as I am never satisfied with anything I’ve written, it’s just a story that’s still a work in progress. The creation always looks different to the creator.

For us, time is limited. It only moves in one direction. It’s unstoppable, unflappable, untamable. And it’s the one thing we brilliant human beings have yet to find a solution to. How much money do we spend on cosmetics and plastic surgeries, trying to avoid the slow progression of time? How much do we spend on hair coloring products and makeup to paint a picture of ourselves that is younger than what we really are?

Can you imagine what Time must be like for God? For it to mean absolutely nothing? He can look into the future or into the past more easily and more profoundly than we can see the present. Time has no boundary for Him. When He created the world, He knew that 10,000 years later I’d be sitting at my computer in the middle of the Kansas prairie writing a silly blog about Him.

I can’t wrap my mind around that.

If you really think about it, though, all of us are going to live forever. But when our lives really begin, we won’t be in a form that will need anything to do with external appearances. I’m looking forward to that.

Time does move too quickly. May marked the ten-year anniversary of my high school graduation. I can’t believe that. I can’t believe that it’s been ten years since I was in high school, since I was traipsing around the world on crazy mission’s trips and hanging out with a nutty group of people who liked TP-ing and Phillips, Craig & Dean. Ten years. And it feels like it’s been only moments. I can’t imagine 1,000 years, but ten years passed quickly enough.

Time is tricky and since our lives really do revolve around it in a sense, I think it’s easy for humans to become obsessed with it. When we’re young, we want time to pass more quickly so we can be old enough to drive, old enough to vote, old enough to drink, etc. And when we’re older, we would give our right arm for time to slow down.

But when I get stressed out because I don’t have enough time, I just try to remember that God created it, and He gave us all a specific amount for a specific reason. And maybe time may take its toll on me down here, but God still knows what He’s doing. After all, He is the only One who can ever conquer Time. Even the unconquerable Time must bow to its creator, and one day we’ll all be in a place where Time doesn’t mean anything anymore.