Where does the time go?

Sometimes people are cruel. I had someone say to me the other night at our Senior Recognition Fellowship that it won’t be anytime before one of my kids will be there, walking across that stage and graduating from high school. “In the blink of an eye,” I believe was the exact phrase used. How cruel. Of course my brain recognizes this fact, but it is one that I choose not to think about often. While seeing each of my boys grow, I am naturally filled with pride, but it isn’t just a cliché to say that they are growing up too fast. Michael turned five last week and Andy will be nine next week… David will be seven in July. Yet, it seems like just yesterday we were changing their diapers and carrying them on our hip. So, that phrase is often heard throughout our house… “where does the time go?” These years while they are young are fun and full… even if sometimes exasperating!

Where does the time go? Interesting to think about isn’t it? On any given day, have you considered how you spend your time? How much of it goes to spending time with your family… time you’re your husband or wife… time with your kids? How much of it goes to spending time with God? And how much of it goes to things that really don’t matter in the big picture of things? Time is the one commodity that we all get exactly the same amount of. Nobody gets any more time in a day than any one else. We all get 24 hours… that’s 1,440 minutes… or 86,400 seconds in a day. The President gets the same amount as the trash collector. The preacher gets the same amount as the congregant. No more… no less. What matters is how we use that time. How is it spent? In the end, we are only stewards of our time. We didn’t create it… and we can’t create any more of it! It doesn’t belong to us… it comes from God… as a gift. What we can do with it… we can choose how we use it. What about your time? How have you been using it? Have you been investing it in the things that truly matter… in your relationship with God? … in your relationship with your family? … in furthering the kingdom of God? These are the investments that will prompt God to say at the end of our time, “Well done good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with little… now I will reward you with more.” More time? How about eternity? Imagine a place where you won’t run out of time… a place where time will be no more… a place where an eternity with God will seem like a second. Yet, isn’t that the promise of God for those who invest for eternity here and now and spend their time wisely?