Saturday, September 28, 2013

Time, Time, Time...

In my contemplation as of late one of the prevailing themes has been "time".  It just escapes me (quite literally).  For when I was young time seemed to go by so aggravatingly slow that I felt my energy overflowing into nothingness.  As I've matured over the years at times I long for those days.

Currently, I've been at my church for about a little over a year.  Yet, it seems like yesterday I moved from LA.  To think before that, I served two and a half years at a Korean church in downtown LA.  Which means I'm four years removed from seminary at this point.  I spent four glorious years of my life at Westminster Seminary... to this day I still find so many of those lessons helpful in what I do in the day to day.  However, the more I look back, the more years I see pile up behind me like a closet full of clothes I've been packing away in suitcases.  As of now, it's hard to believe but it's been 8 years since I first entered the halls of grad school.

Just this day too, some of my elementary school friends on Facebook started getting active again.  We're planning a reunion in December (I'm hoping I make it for that night).  To think, I've had those friends since first grade (Go class of 1991!).  

As I get older I realize that time slips by quicker with each passing moment.  In fact, it made me reflect on the wisdom of the teacher in his wisdom in Ecclesiastes 3.  Life goes through many seasons.  Yet those many seasons come and go.  It's a matter of how we use that time, how we focus it, and that's why our values are so important.

It's no wonder that guy (Qohelet) had so much angst over the brevity of his life and what he did with it.  For only in his aging wisdom did God show him that all that mattered was God Himself.  

With so much to today's "on the move" mentality it seems almost a far gone conclusion to me that we're losing our perspective on time even more.  We're like Qohelet (the teacher) in that sense, only more extreme.

Personally, I've been encouraged by the life God has granted me.  I'm privileged to serve Him as a pastor.  My purpose is clear... preach the gospel.  With moments like these I often rejoice.

In the past I've wasted man moments, but with no regrets.  In a sense, that's what I pray for the generations after me.  No regrets.  I pray for their focus to be on Christ in all things.  And in their wasted moments, I pray that God would bring value to them as He has to me.  I pray that they would continue to find God's grace, mercy, love, and presence as the constancy that walks with them in life.  I pray that they would realize their union with Christ is real at all times.

As for me, I pray that my wasted moments become wisdom moments.  I pray that I would grow to appreciate time, not as something that simply flees from me, but as something that pushes me to pursue Christ more.  I pray that the seasons of my life would continue to add unto me the character God desires.  

People often see time as an enemy... truth be told, time is a servant of God.  Maybe we ought to appreciate it a little more lest we treat it with the sinful prejudice.  

2 comments:

  1. well done solomon. great reflection!

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    1. Thanks. I was posting more academic stuff lately so I wanted to do something a little lighter...

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