Time. Ever present but fleeting. The sweeping second hand of a clock. In a second, something gained, something lost. I was awakened this morning to a tragedy of a young man we knew through our neighbor, killed in an auto accident, just a few short hours ago.
Driving home from getting a late night snack. The video footage showed him approaching the intersection northbound on a green light and was met by someone barreling through the intersection at a high rate of speed torpedoing eastbound into the intersection hitting the side of his car…I believe he never knew what hit him.
Instantly in eternity. Death interrupted him from making it home. Only doing as he had done before on that fateful night.
I hadn’t seen this young man in years but the last time I did, was at a cookout over a holiday, little did I know it would be the last time I would see him alive.
While the story is very sad for the family and friends more closely connected, the haunting reminder is ever present through the haze of grief …. time.
A curious thing about time, not always viewed for the precious commodity it is. My daughter Erika, who we lost over two years ago, was given 12,541 days on this earth. She didn’t know it, I didn’t know it.
Like a silent person on a journey, time moves through the earth, punching eternal time clocks in and out of life.
cycles….seasons…. moments. The sands are always silently streaming through the hourglass.
A wise king once said concerning time in his record found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear and a time to mend
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
No matter where we are in the span of time, these words ring true.
Someone weeping this morning over loss of life, while others are rejoicing over brand new life that science and the medical community said could never be..a miracle!
Someone is up early this morning grappling over a problem searching desperately for a solution. Another just received an answer to prayer.
Someone is facing court today worrying about an outcome they may or may not face, while a couple is getting prepared to catch a flight, headed on a trip of a lifetime. Someone is battling to stay alive another day in hospice, while another is getting dressed for the first day of their new job.
All of these activities are happening under the same sky, in the context of time.
How will we fill this day with the time given? What positive memories will we create? What can we say to someone who needs to hear an encouraging word?
How will you and I use this year, month, day, hour minute and second for good?
We can, if we will.
anablepsis.