Time

After years of hearing parents say that their kids grow up too fast, I’ve seen that reality firsthand lately. My daughter is nearly two-months old, and the time has flown by. I’ve thought a lot about time lately, and I’ve thought about it even more since yesterday. After church yesterday morning, I helped one of the guys from my youth group move into the dorms at my alma mater, Boyce College. As we hauled his stuff up the stairs and into a cramped room, I was reminded of when I moved in to the same building just 7 years ago.

I’m amazed at how much has changed in just 7 years. My high school girlfriend of 9 months who I had left behind in North Carolina is now my wife of 3 years. I left home feeling a great deal like a kid myself, now I have a daughter of my own. Many of the theological truths I now hold dear I was at best ignorant of and at worst rebelled against. Then, a youth pastor was the epitome of Christian cool, now that I am one that sentiment just seems patently ridiculous. Even 9/11 was just a meaningless number back in August of 2001. In just a few short years, I’ve changed so much that I wonder if I’d even recognize the me of 7 years ago – and if I did, would the old me irritate the crap out of the current me?

More than ever before, I see the bittersweet truthfulness of Psalm 103:15-16…

"As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more."

At times, focusing on the brevity of life can be emotionally overwhelming. I’ll never forget driving home after Jordan was born to make preparations at the house for bringing her home. Alone in the car, I cried at the prospect of our hospital stay ending because it was all happening too fast. I wanted nothing more than to go back to the moment of her birth and experience it all over again. Yet, even as the brevity of live stings, Psalm 103:17-18 shrouds verses 15-16 with inexpressible hope…

"But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments."

The fleeting nature of life reminds me that God’s love is anything but, that his goodness lasts forever. I taste his goodness in this life in passing doses with family and friends, as but an appetizer to the joys that will come with forever basking in his infinite glory and reveling in his greatness. So, whether you’re at the beginning of your life’s race or nearing the end, savor each temporal moment God gives as an incredible glimpse into the eternal joy that we have been promised in Christ. Life is a gift, to be sure, but it is a gift like a telescope is a gift, directing us to the object truly worth our wonder and amazement, the true gift – God himself.