As I sit here at my computer keyboard, it is the day before my 64th birthday. Wow! How is that even possible? Depending upon which shoes you are in, 64 is a youngster and for others, well, you are seen as “old as dirt.”
There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head. Where has the time gone? It seems like only yesterday I was rocking my babies to sleep. It was only yesterday that I was telling them bedtime stories. It was only yesterday we found ourselves on bright sunny summer days swimming at the KOA campground playing Shamu. Of course, I was Shamu, and each of the girls would take their turn riding on Shamu’s back into the depths of the pool. I guess there is some truth to the saying that the older you get, the faster time seems to go by. Where has the time gone?
The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that all time belongs to God…
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To everything there is a season,
And a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal;
A time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose;
A time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace.
Time is a gift from God. We measure time by our watches, seconds, minutes, and hours. We measure time by our calendars, days, weeks, months.
Time is best measured in what we make of it.
Henry Van Dyke writes…
Time is…
Too slow for those who wait,
Too swift for those who fear,
Too long for those who grieve,
Too short for those who rejoice,
But for those who love,
Time is Eternity.
One of my favorite stories comes from the life of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. In her days as Elizabeth Barrett, she was known as the poor invalid of Wimpole Street, but then love broke through her despondent life in the person of Robert Browning. Because of his love, her life took on a new bloom and purpose.
Elizabeth wrote this infamous poem to her husband: “How Do I Love Thee?”
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
Another of her infamous poems is “The Face of All the World”
The face of all the world is changed, I think,
Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul
Human love is powerful, life changing and life healing. The loss of love is devastating and can be life threatening.
George Mathesen, beloved clergyman of the Church of Scotland, was losing his sight until it disappeared altogether. Having been engaged, his fiancé decided not to marry a blind man, and out of the most severe mental suffering (his own words) he wrote the hymn:
O love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine oceans depths its flow may richer, fuller be.
When human love abandoned him he wrote of his experience with Divine love, “A Love that will not let me go.”
As we continue our journey through Lent, and soon will be revisiting the brutality of Holy Week, we once again get a glimpse of the Divine love, a love that is sacrificial, a love that reassures us that nothing, absolutely nothing can ever separate us from the love of God through Christ Jesus.
Henry Van Dyke is correct when he writes: “For those who love, time is eternity.” Age is just a number; time is nothing at all in the eyes of our God who has chosen to love us for all eternity, evidenced in the cross of Jesus.
I invite you to walk with me through this most Holy Season as we embrace God’s love for all eternity. Thanks be to God!
Blessings,
Pastor Russel
Photo by rsvstks