TIME FLIES

Time flies…whether you’re having fun or not.

I remember the day that we moved into our first house in Anderson.  Our stuff, which had been in storage since April, was being moved in August to our house on Coventry Drive.  My 9-month-old youngest child learned to walk AND got chicken pox that same day.  It was a full day for mom and dad.    I remember the warm night, our new neighbors bringing over a home-made key lime pie, and a garage full of boxes…along with a toddling, speckled 9-month-old.

That nine-month-old is now 27-years-old…by-the-way.
Time flies…whether you’re having fun or not.

When I look back at what seems like a short time ago, I have many conflicting emotions: happiness, remorse, regret, fondness, nostalgia, just to name a few.  I could concentrate on the regret and become a sad, bitter guy who regrets not being the best Dad.  Or I could concentrate on only the good things and not see, realistically, how my friends, family and congregations have contributed to my life and me to theirs.  Either way, the past is the past…so how then should we live?

Jesus, who understands what it is like to live IN time (like us humans) and OUT of time (in the age of timeless bliss that IS God and His home) said a few things that help put things into perspective.

LIVE IN THE DAY, THE MOMENT…DON’T JUMP AHEAD
“Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat and what you will drink…isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?…Can any of you add an inch to your height by worrying?…don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has trouble enough of its own.” (MATT 6:25-34)

INVEST IN SOMETHING THAT YOU CAN’T LOSE
“Don’t collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.  But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.  For where your treasure is there your heart will be also.” (MATT 6:19-21)

 As Jesus walked with us, throughout his ministry, he reminded us that NOW is the time.  CHANGE is possible, and that HE makes all things new.

Probably all of us could look back on our lives, our parenting, our relationships, our work history…and have regrets.  We could LIVE in those regrets.  Or we could look back and think that everything was “rosey” and realize in a shock that our loved-ones didn’t quite have that same experience.  Both of these perspectives are skewed, and both come from a life that is not lived according to the words & life of Jesus…to LIVE EACH DAY, EACH MOMENT without worrying about tomorrow AND investing in something that you will never lose.

 One of the wisest things I’ve learned from my friend (I’ll call him, Ed Payntor) was to not look at what happens in the stock market daily or even weekly or monthly…but to step back, wait, and see the bigger picture…otherwise you begin panicking about things that won’t matter in the long-run.  I have another good and wise friend, now passed, who used to say to me, “Rick, ask yourself if it will matter in five years.  If not, then don’t spend too much time worrying about it now.”

 

The scripture says the same thing…if you must look back, look at the big picture, look and see where God has delivered, worked through the worst situations, brought order out of chaos and supplied the need.   

I AM so thankful for my family, my time here in Anderson, my neighbors, my theatre family, and my Central Christian Church family.  Yes, time does fly…whether you’re having fun or not.  But with each year I am just beginning to understand that I can touch “eternity” by living in THIS moment and enjoying THIS time.  Being thankful for every moment I am in the presence of those I love is, in fact, touching the place where God is.

I have not been a perfect parent, a perfect spouse, or a perfect friend – however:
1- I have the opportunity to be a better father, husband, friend, and Pastor, every day, and
2 – my Heavenly Father IS perfect, in every way, and is continuing to “parent” my sons…and me.